The West and Russia took what they wanted from Ukraine

Participation of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the EC at the 17th of April Ukraine talks in Geneva. Ashton, on the right, and US Secretary of State, John Kerry, hold a joint press conference after the plenary session with Ministers of Foreign affairs of Russia and Ukraine on April 17th, 2014 at the Intercontinental Hotel Geneva. (EC Audiovisual Services, 17/4/2014).

Yesterday, in Geneva the representatives of the EU, the US and Russia did on Ukraine what the European Sting said they were about to do; partition the poor country. By the way, the Ukrainian ‘Foreign Minister’ Andriy Deshchytsia was around, while the three were negotiating about the future and the actual existence of his country, but he didn’t seem to care much. He was happy to be photographed with the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and the US Secretary of State John Kerry. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after the meeting said the four of them adopted a joint statement on the de-escalation of the Ukraine crisis.

The joint statement of the four and the Press release issued by Ashton afterwards are quite clear of what the West and Russia did on Ukraine. For one thing the West ‘forgot’ altogether the Crimean issue. There is nowhere in the two documents a reference, not even one word about the annexation of Crimea by Russia. The word ‘Crimea’ is completely absent from the texts. If this is not a selloff, words have lost their meaning.

Forget about Crimea

In return, the West took from Russia an indirect recognition of the Kiev government, which is made up by people controlled by the West and hostile to Moscow. The proof that there was a ‘trade’ between Russia and the West exchanging Crimea for Kiev is the fact that Lavrov accepted to sit on the same table with the Ukrainian ‘Foreign Minister’ Andriy Deshchytsia. Only days ago in Paris, Lavrov had demanded, in order to start talking with Kerry, that Deshchytsia was chased away not to be seen near the two foreign ministers.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister had then accepted the disparagement and went away. Yesterday, he accepted to be ‘around’ the table where the three decided the future of his country. He was happy again to be seen with the three representatives of the big world powers as an indirect recognition of the Kiev ‘authorities’. It is evident that the new Kiev rulers are quite happy to be recognized as such, actually not minding what happens in the east provinces of their country.

Partitioning a country

Now speaking of the eastern part of Ukraine, the Geneva meeting went as far as to indirectly partition the poor country into spheres of influence. The following passage from the joint statement is quite clear, it goes like that: “The OSCE Special Monitoring mission will play a leading role in this (de-escalating the crisis): it will assist the Ukrainian authorities and local communities to take the necessary measures that they need to take”.

As everybody knows, texts like that should be read with utmost attention, because more is insinuated that said. Obviously, the text makes a distinction between “the Ukrainian authorities and local communities”. Undoubtedly, the term ‘Ukrainian authorities’ is a clear reference to the Kiev government, while the expression ‘local communities’ is a direct reference to the eastern provinces with a majority of Russian population. By this reference, the joint statement recognizes that there are two centers of political importance in the Ukraine; Kiev and the east.

This is repeated in the Press release Ashton issued after the meeting. It says, “it was agreed that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission should play a leading role in assisting Ukrainian authorities and local communities in the immediate implementation of the de-escalation measures wherever they are needed most, beginning in the coming days”.

Protecting gas supplies

Last but not least, Ashton rushed to make sure that the Russian natural gas supplies to EU countries will continue uninterrupted through the pipelines below the surface no matter what happens on it. The text goes like that. “Today, President Barroso of the European Commission wrote to President Putin on behalf of the European Union, accepting President Putin’s proposal for consultations with Russia and Ukraine -trilateral consultations – on the security of gas supply and transit”.

There is no doubt that the West and Russia took whatever they wanted from this meeting, while the bill will be paid by the Ukrainian people.