Comment by the Information and Press Department on the transport blockade of Donbass imposed by Kiev

Moscow is concerned about the decision of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (NSDCU) to suspend all trade and transport links with Donbass, which it approved on March 15.

Kiev explains this move by the “growing tensions” in the area where Kiev is conducting a punitive operation against its citizens, which it itself has initiated. Thereby it demonstrates an apparent desire to again lay the blame for what is happening at someone else’s doorstep. We would like to note that the current aggravation of the situation has also been provoked by Ukrainian authorities, who are unwilling to find a peaceful political solution to resolving the conflict and are pinning their hopes on the use of force to settle the Donbass problem.  

NSDCU Secretary Alexander Turchinov’s words about the blockade of southeastern Ukraine remaining in force until the fulfillment of the provisions of the Minsk Agreements regarding a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact sound particularly blasphemous, for it is precisely Kiev who for two years now has been ignoring these provisions.

The above decision by the NSDCU is also explained away by the alleged seizure of Ukrainian enterprises based in Donbass. This allegation does not stand up to criticism. By playing up to the extremists who have blocked railway links with the region, Kiev has itself created artificial problems for the normal operation of these businesses. In a move to prevent them from being ruined and destroyed, the authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics had to assume responsibility for these enterprises and the future of people working there.   

We are calling on the Ukrainian authorities to not allow the situation to deteriorate towards a humanitarian catastrophe and, at last, start strictly fulfilling their commitments under the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, including the restoration of socioeconomic links with Donbass.