Participants
at peace talks in Minsk have agreed to create a buffer zone to separate
pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government troops. Negotiators also
struck a deal on the withdrawal of foreign fighters.
Deutsche Welle, 20 Sep 2014
Pro-Russian
separatists and representatives from both the Russian and Ukrainian governments
on Saturday morning agreed on an artillery buffer zone.
The sides
agreed to move heavy weapons 15 kilometers (9 miles) away from the front line
on each side, effectively creating a 30 kilometer buffer area.
"We
have signed a memorandum," Kyiv's representative, former president Leonid
Kuchma, told reporters. Kuchma added that monitors from the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) - who mediated the talks in the
Belarusian capital, Minsk - would check the buffer zone, and would extend their
observer mission along the Russian border.
Kyiv claims
the separatists have been reinforced by Russian supplies and fighters crossing
the porous border.
Separatist
leader Igor Plotnitsky said it was expected that the document would lead to the
creation of "a zone of complete security." He added that the status
of the rebel-held regions of Luhansk and Donetsk - something the secessionists
have insisted on - was not discussed.
An end to
outside meddling?
Kuchma said
the two sides had also reached an agreement on the withdrawal of foreign armed
formations from Ukrainian territory. The news emerged after talks that began on
Friday dragged on into the night.
Russian
ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zubarov, who was at the talks, said he hoped the
talks would move the peace process forward.
Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko agreed to an unlimited ceasefire with the rebels at
talks in Minsk two weeks ago, after Ukrainian forces suffered military
reversals against the separatists and lost a large swathe of the Donetsk region
near the Russian border.
The
pro-Russians have said they want sovereignty from Kyiv, having already declared
two "people's republics" in Donetsk and Luhansk.
The
Ukrainian parliament this week passed a bill granting wide-ranging autonomy to the separatists, including the right to maintain people's militias in the
breakaway areas. While the law refers to a temporary special political status,
Ukrainian officials have insisted this does not mean sovereignty
rc/jm (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
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