Conditions of a truce

On Friday, September 5, according to the results of negotiations of the contact group in Minsk, a truce was announced. Representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE, as well as the self -proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republicssigned the protocol “following the consultations of the tripartite contact group regarding joint steps aimed at the implementation of the peaceful plan of the President of Ukraine P. Poroshenko and the initiatives of the President of Russia V. Putin”. After the signing of the protocol, Ukraine and the leadership of the self -proclaimed republics announced the ceasefire from 18:00 on the same day.

The meeting of the contact group was attended by former President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, Russian ambassador to Kyiv Mikhail Zurabov, the special representative of the OSCE Khaidi Tagliwini, as well as representatives of self-proclaimed formations that control part of the territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine-the Prime Minister of the DPR Alexander Zakharchenko, the Deputy Prime Minister of the DPR and the head of the LPR Igor Plotnitsky.

According to the results of the signing of the protocol, the head of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko made a statement in which he explained the logic of his actions: “My international negotiations in Brussels and Minsk demonstrated a powerful request for peaceful political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict in the Donbass. The same mood dominated during my meetings with world leaders at the NATO summit in Wales. ” He emphasized that the whole world is striving for peace in Ukraine, including millions of residents of Donbass. “The highest value is human life, and we must do everything possible and impossible in order to stop bloodshed and put an end to the suffering of people,” Poroshenko noted , giving an order to the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to stop fire starting the moment of signing the protocol.

Since signing the document, great interest has aroused its text. On Sunday night, he was finally published on the OSCE website. The protocol records 12 steps agreed by the parties. The first item sounds like this: "Ensure an immediate bilateral cessation of the use of weapons." The next step, by decision of the contact group, should be ensuring the monitoring and verification of the OSCE of the established mode of non -use of the weapon (paragraph 2). It is also adjacent to paragraph 4-on ensuring constant monitoring on the Russian-Ukrainian state border and verification by the OSCE with the creation of a security zone in the border regions of Ukraine and the Russian Federation.

The agreement includes an agreement to immediately release all the hostages and illegally retained persons (clause 5), and then adopt a law on the prevention of the persecution and punishment of persons in connection with the events in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions (paragraph 6). It is assumed to withdraw illegal armed groups, military equipment, militants and mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine (paragraph 10).

The protocol records a decision to continue the inclusive national dialogue (clause 7). The question of the status of parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, now controlled by self -proclaimed formations, adjoins this item. Thus, the third point of the protocol indicates the decentralization of power in Ukraine, including by the adoption of the Law “On the Provisional Procedure for Local Self -Government in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions” (Law on a special status). And the ninth paragraph - on the early holding of local elections, in accordance with this law.

The matter should not be limited to political settlement. The contracting parties recorded the need to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in the Donbass (paragraph 8), as well as the adoption of the program of economic revival of the region and restore its normal life (paragraph 11).

The document also provides for the guarantees of the personal security of the participants in the consultations themselves (paragraph 12).

Petro Poroshenko said that this peace plan will become the basis for further settlement of the crisis in the Donbass. In his opinion, in the plan there is no threat to the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its sovereignty. “All the inhabitants of Donbass are 100% want for peace! I am ready to fight for my country and is sure that a huge number of residents of Ukraine thinks so. Territorial integrity, sovereignty and Ukrainian independence will remain the same as they are, ”the president wrote on his Facebook page on the night of September 6. A little earlier, on the first day of the NATO summit, Poroshenko met with US Secretary of State John Kerry, who emphasized that the United States would continue to maintain independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine by all means.

The responsibility for the implementation of the above agreements is carried out by two parties - Ukraine and Russia, the Commissioner of the President of Ukraine on the settlement of the situation in the east of Ukraine Irina Gerashchenko believes .

Already in the first hours after the arresting, reports began to receive that the ATO forces observe the ceasefire, and in the Luhansk region the parties have already begun to comply with the condition of the agreement on the release of hostages. However, soon the parties nevertheless began to blame each other of violating the agreements. The head of the Center for Military-Political Research Dmitry Tymchuk accused the armed detachments of the self-proclaimed republics and the Russian military of active violation of the ceasefire. According to him, they continue to shell the positions of the forces of the Ukrainian army. “Of the mortars, the airport was fired in Donetsk. Also, Russian troops and terrorists with the use of receiver and reactive artillery fired at the positions of Ukrainian troops and civil objects in the Mariupol region, ”Tymchuk said. He notes that the security forces, in turn, strictly observe a truce.

At the same time, information comes from the opposite side that their positions in Gorlovka and Makeevka were subject to mortar shelling after the establishment of a truce. The DPR headquarters reported on the artillery shelling of the village of Yasinovataya.

The day after the signing of the Minsk Protocol, on Saturday, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a telephone conversation discussed the execution of agreements and stated that the ceasefire was generally fulfilled, which satisfies both sides. The heads of state also affected steps to achieve the constant nature of the ceasefire.

A number of media today call the truce of Putin’s victory, for example, an analytical article under the heading “A truce in Ukraine - Victory for Putin” was released on September 6 at USA Today. On the NBC News website there was a material called "A truce in Ukraine: all cards are in Putin's hands."

Responses of users of social networks, as usual, represent the whole variety of positions - from the rejection of the truce as betrayal from the leadership of Ukraine to the belief that it will certainly violate this truce.