‘Chaos in Kiev’: Ukraine trying to distract attention from Donbass conflict, says Russia’s UN rep.
Russian UN representative Vitaly Churkin has said “there is chaos in Kiev,” following the UN Security Council meeting on recent Ukraine-Russia tensions. It comes a day after Russia detained two potential attackers on the Crimean border with Ukraine.
“There is chaos in Kiev. They don’t know what to do with Donetsk. The Minsk agreements are quite clear, but they [Ukrainian authorities] have no political will to implement them,” Churkin told journalists.
Donetsk is located in the eastern Ukrainian Donbass region, one of the hotspots of the current tensions.
"Many Security Council members called for full implementation of the Minsk agreements… This is in line with our stance," the diplomat said.
Instead of doing this, Kiev “distracts attention to other things,” he added.
Churkin also emphasized that the US delegation yet again had attempted to present an “entirely one-sided picture of the events in Ukraine.”
“Despite Washington’s statements about their determination to solve the crisis in Ukraine, unfortunately it never reflects in the UN Security Council discussions. As for the rest, I think that it was useful for us. We provided the information about what happened.”
Before the meeting, Churkin said that what happened on the border with Crimea was “a clear act of sabotage and terrorism. So I am very surprised that they raised the issue with the UN Security Council.”
On Wednesday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) stated it had foiled a terrorist plot planned by Ukrainian intelligence.
Explosive devices and ammunition used by the Ukrainian Army’s special forces had also been discovered, the FSB said.
Kiev rejected the claims, and accused Moscow of provocation.
Among those detained in the operation was southern Ukrainian resident Evgeny Panov, who shared details of the plan and who was behind it, according to the footage of his questioning shown by the Russian media.
“I was invited to Kiev, where I was told about the formation of a group which would be sent to carry out acts of diversion in Crimea. The group was comprised of active officers from Ukraine’s military intelligence service. The operation was prepared by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. The plan was to blow up Russian military hardware. And of course, there was a high risk of killing people in the process.”
With the group, Panov traveled to several cities in Crimea and chose a number of potential targets – a ferry crossing, an oil plant in Feodossia, a helicopter regiment, and the ‘Titan’ chemical factory in the town of Armyansk.
Panov was paid about $130 for the operation, he added.
A day after the FSB announced the foiled plot, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko urged all military units near Crimea and the eastern Ukrainian Donbass region to be at the highest level of combat readiness.
The Ukrainian security forces on the border with Crimea are ready "for any turn of events," the aide to the Ukrainian border service, Oleg Slobodyan, told journalists at a briefing following the president’s statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Ukraine has turned to "the practice of terrorism" and "is playing a dangerous game," calling Kiev's actions "stupid and criminal."
