Luhansk Amounts France's, Germany's Boycott Of UNSC Arria Meeting To Support Of Kiev

LUHANSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2020) The refusal of France and Germany to participate in the UN Security Council's (UNSC) Arria-Formula virtual meeting on Donbas amounts to them taking Ukraine's side in the conflict, Rodion Miroshnik, the representative of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) in the political subgroup at the talks, told Sputnik on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the UNSC held a meeting with the added participation of non-members whose stance is of interest for the council � a format known as the Arria Formula � at the initiative of Russia, a permanent member state. This was a debut for the LPR, as well as the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), to speak their stances at a UNSC platform. France and Germany, which are members of the Normandy Group facility mediating the peace process in Eastern Ukraine, boycotted the meeting and demanded that it not be broadcast on the UN website.

"France and Germany explicitly compromised themselves by refusing to participate in the talks. They were not asked to support the LPR and the DPR, but [they were at least expected] to hear them out. Now, they are formal mediators. They refused dialogue with the second party to the conflict, which means that they are no longer at the median, but rather on one of the sides � on Kiev's side," Miroshnik said.

According to the diplomat, the boycott has jeopardized the very format of the Normandy Group � comprising France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine � rendering the possibility of holding another round of quadrilateral talks "increasingly dim" and undermining the capacity of Paris and Berlin to comprehend the situation in Donbas adequately.

"Germany as a non-permanent member of the UNSC will very soon leave it, while France will remain. And in situations where [France] might require support in similar circumstances, it is unlikely to get it from Russia. I hope [French President Emmanuel] Macron knows better if this bet was worth it," Miroshnik said.

Aside from France and Germany, the meeting was also boycotted by Belgium, Estonia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched an offensive against the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, known together as Donbas, which declared independence after what they considered a coup in Ukraine in February of that year. Armed hostilities had resulted in thousands of casualties, as estimated by the United Nations before the sides agreed to a ceasefire, negotiated by the Normandy Four in 2015 as part of the so-called Minsk Agreements.