Western powers have condemned Russia's recognition of passports issued by separatist militia in Ukraine, as both Kiev and Moscow dismissed prospects for a secret peace plan that reportedly has been offered to US president Donald Trump.
Russian president Vladimir Putin made his latest show of support for the separatists on Saturday as Ukraine began several days of events to mark three years since its bloody pro-western revolution, and US vice-president Mike Pence said Washington would "continue to hold Russia accountable" for its actions.
"The recognition of travel documents of the self-declared, so-called people's republics of Luhansk and Donetsk undermines the unity of Ukraine," said a spokesman for German chancellor Angela Merkel. "It directly contradicts everything that was agreed in [the] Minsk [peace talks] and is therefore unacceptable."
The French foreign ministry said it “regrets this decision” by Russia, and urged Moscow to use its influence over the separatists to halt the fighting with Ukrainian government troops that has killed some 10,000 people since April 2014.
A lasting solution
Paris also called on Russia and the separatists it supports to fulfil the Minsk agreement, which France and Germany helped broker two years ago. "It is the only way of ensuring a lasting solution to the crisis in east Ukraine," the French ministry said.
The US embassy in Kiev said Mr Putin’s decree was “alarming and contradicts the agreed goals of the Minsk agreements”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted the move to accept passports and other documents from separatist-held territory was a "humanitarian" gesture to ease hardship exacerbated by Ukrainian activists, who are blocking rail lines to halt what they call illegal trade with the militants.
“Documents issued on humanitarian grounds will be recognised here,” Mr Peskov said, while making clear that Russia was not acknowledging the sovereignty of the militia-held areas. “These aren’t documents from an officially recognised state. They are documents issued de facto on the territory of a region.”
However, analysts and prominent Russian politicians said Mr Putin’s decree sent a signal to the West.
"By recognising the passports . . . Moscow made it known that pressure on the Ukrainian question [Mr Pence's statement in Munich] will not bring results," senior Russian senator Alexei Pushkov wrote on Twitter.
Another ceasefire
During last weekend’s major security conference in Munich, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France agreed to push for yet another ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, to start on Monday.
Initial reports from Ukraine’s military and the separatists indicated that a lull in shelling had occurred, following a recent escalation that killed more than 30 people and injured dozens more.
Russia and Ukraine struck a rare note of agreement in dismissing any prospect of success for a peace plan that Ukrainian deputy Andriy Artemenko reportedly delivered via intermediaries to Mr Trump.
Mr Peskov called it "absurd", while Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Valeriy Chaly, was quoted as saying that Mr Artemenko "is not entitled to present any alternative peace plans on behalf of Ukraine to any foreign government, including the US administration."
