The DPR Representative Office to the JCCC reports on the situation in Petrovskoye a year after the elimination of positional violations had been launched and notes the irresponsible approach of the AFU towards fulfilling its obligations.
Exactly one year ago, on November 9, 2019, the practical part of measures to eliminate violations registered by the OSCE SMM was launched in a simultaneous and coincident manner when there was begun the withdrawal of equipment and armed persons outside of the disengagement site No. 3 near the locality of Petrovskoye. This happened 20 months after the OSCE SMM had recorded the first violations by the AFU in this area. Both sides announced the withdrawal of their troops, the beginning of mine action and the dismantling of fortifications, as provided for by the Framework Decision on the disengagement of forces and equipment of September 21, 2016.
According to Paragraph 8 of the Framework Decision, only officers of the Joint Control and Coordination Center and OSCE SMM monitors are allowed to stay in the disengagement area. Despite this, the OSCE SMM reports continue to regularly document violations by the armed forces of Ukraine. In total, since November 9 of last year, there were registered 59 cases of the presence of the AFU military within the disengagement site, two new trenches and additional enforcement of the old position were found, and the presence of equipment on the site was detected one time.
There were also registered 192 episodes of violations of the ceasefire by the AFU within the disengagement site using weapons of various types. In addition, there were registered cases of UAV launching in this area and two cases of equipping new engineering positions of the AFU in the Bogdanovka area.
Thus, the negative dynamics of the implementation of the Planned Schedule for the Disengagement of Forces and Equipment on the Petrovskoye-Bogdanovka site No. 3 by the AFU indicates that the enemy in this case is also irresponsible in fulfilling its obligations in accordance with the Framework Decision of September 21, 2016, which prevents the achievement of the main goal — full compliance with the silence regime and non-use of weapons in a specific section of the contact line.
In this regard, it should be noted that public statements by representatives of the Ukrainian military command about four new sites allegedly agreed by all participants in the negotiation process for the next stage of disengagement of forces and equipment in Donbass is nothing but a mere speculation.
As is known, the new sites were preliminary agreed with a postponed norm introduced by representatives of the Republics concerning the decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on holding local elections. Therefore, despite a consensus on the locations of the new sites and their coordinates had been reached, it is still necessary to develop and approve the Disengagement Schedule on the new sites.
In addition, the talks about readiness for disengagement on new sites at a time when the Ukrainian party has not yet eliminated all violations within the first pilot sites are clearly premature.
