Russia May Return to JCCC If Center Becomes Effective - Lawmaker
©
Sputnik/ Irina Gerashchenko
MOSCOW
(Sputnik) - Russia may resume its membership of the Joint Center for
Control and Coordination (JCCC) of the ceasefire regime in Donbas if it
becomes an effective and functional body, Franz Klintsevich, first
deputy chairman of Russia's upper house Defense and Security Committee,
said on Saturday.
On
Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Russian side was
ceasing its participation in the JCCC, stating that it was impossible
to continue working within the center under Kiev’s policies. Earlier
on Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel
and French President Emmanuel Macron called for return of Russian
servicemen to the JCCC, which, according to them, plays a very important
role in supporting OSCE observers and ceasefire arrangements.
Klintsevich
noted that statement of Merkel and Macron was "quite illustrative,"
since it showed that Europe understands that settlement of the Ukrainian
conflict is impossible without Russia, being one of the guarantor of the Minsk process.
"I think that Russian servicemen may return
to the JCCC. On one condition, of course. The center should become a
really functioning instrument of the control over the situation
in Donbass," Klintsevich said, adding that the Russian side should not
only be listed as a JCCC member, but determine its work, like other
participants.
©
Sputnik/ Irina Gerashchenko
Meantime, Russian senior lawmaker Aleksey Pushkov said Sunday he
believed that if French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel wanted the return of the Russian military to the Joint
Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) of the ceasefire regime
in Donbas, they must demand change in behavior from Kiev.
The
JCCC was formed by the Russian and Ukrainian general staffs by order
of Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir
Putin, following the creation of the Minsk accords.
"If Macron and Merkel want the return
of Russian servicemen to JCCC, they should demand from Kiev, not
from Moscow, to change behavior," Pushkov, who is the head of the
Russian parliament's upper house's commission on information policy,
wrote on Twitter.
The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine for the Donbass
peace process has recently agreed upon a ceasefire in the region
in connection with the New Year and Christmas holidays starting December
23. The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Operational
Command said earlier in the day that the Ukrainian government forces
have already violated the ceasefire regime.
In April 2014, Kiev launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed republics in the Donbass region, which refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government that came to power in what they perceived to be a coup. In February 2015, the conflicting parties signed the Minsk peace agreement, but situation in the region remained tense.
In April 2014, Kiev launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed republics in the Donbass region, which refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government that came to power in what they perceived to be a coup. In February 2015, the conflicting parties signed the Minsk peace agreement, but situation in the region remained tense.
