Poroshenko 'Radicalizes His Rhetoric' as World Starts to Ignore Ukraine

In a recent interview with Sky News TV, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the conflict in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass is not a "frozen" one.

Due to the lack of considerable progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements, some experts have described the situation in Donbass as a frozen conflict. Earlier, the same concerns were expressed by Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s representative in the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbass.

"Someone is trying to call this a frozen conflict. I emphasize that it is not frozen. It is a hot Russian aggression against my country," Poroshenko was quoted as saying by the official website of the Ukrainian president.

He also said that since the beginning of the year, 69 Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and 420 injured in Donbass.

Political analyst Alexander Asafov said that by making such a statement Poroshenko, first of all wants to win attention from the West, especially after the recent decision by the International Court of Justice on Kiev’s claim against Russia.

On Wednesday, Judge Ronny Abraham said that the ICJ will not satisfy Ukraine’s request to introduce provisional measures in relation to Russia over the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.

"After Kiev’s demand was declined in The Hague [in court], Poroshenko needs to ramp up his rhetoric. It appears that the court’s decision devaluated all of his previous statements," Asafov told Radio Sputnik.

According to him, Poroshenko has to ramp up his rhetoric to draw global attention back to Ukraine’s problems.

"Currently, the international community is busy with other issues and Ukraine is losing attention from world leaders and media. Ukraine is on the backburner now and the Ukrainian issue is of secondary importance. This is why Poroshenko is doing that. He wants to radicalize his rhetoric to draw attention. This is the point," the expert pointed out.

Moreover, according to Asafov, Poroshenko wants to fix his reputation in the domestic political arena.

"What is more, in a situation when he’s attacked by his political rivals, he has a limited number of options to save face. The country is plagued with numerous troubles. Social tensions are very high. A valve to let some steam off is needed and war works perfectly. This is why Poroshenko made this statement. He talks about Russian aggression and hopes that military activity will save his political reputation. But there is nothing new," the analyst concluded.

The Donbass conflict broke out in April 2014 as a counter-reaction to the Maidan coup in Kiev that had toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February. Residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions held independence referendums and proclaimed the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Kiev has since been conducting a military operation in the region.

In February 2015, Kiev forces and Donbass independence supporters signed a peace agreement in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. The deal stipulates a full ceasefire, weapons withdrawal from the contact line in Donbass, as well as constitutional reforms that would give a special status to the self-proclaimed republics.

Despite the agreement brokered by the Normandy Four states (Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine), the ceasefire regime is regularly violated, with both sides accusing each other of multiple breaches, undermining the terms of the accord.

 

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