A convoy of 280 Russian trucks reportedly packed with aid headed for eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, but Ukraine said it would deny the mission entry because it has not been certified by the Red Cross and could be a covert military operation.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had no information on what the trucks were carrying or where they were going. That has raised fears in Ukraine and the West, where leaders have voiced concerns that Russia could use the initiative as a pretext for sending troops into separatist-held territory.
Russian television and news agencies reported that 2,000 tons of aid was en route to Ukraine, where fighting between pro-Russian separatists and government forces has claimed more than 1,300 lives since April, according to a UN report.
Pro-Kremlin television channel NTV showed hundreds of white trucks gathered at a depot outside Moscow, and said they were carrying everything from baby food to sleeping bags. The report also showed a Russian Orthodox priest sprinkling holy water on the trucks, some of which bore a red cross, before their departure.
- But Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said the convoy will not be allowed across the border.
- "This convoy is not a certified convoy. It is not certified by the International Committee of the Red Cross," Lysenko said.
One frame displayed by Lysenko shows uniformed troops lined up in front of one the trucks.
Andre Loersch, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross mission in Ukraine, said that while the organization had reached a general agreement about delivery of humanitarian aid to the region, he had "no information about the content" of the trucks and did not know where they were headed.
'We have no agreement'
"At this stage we have no agreement on this, and it looks like the initiative of the Russian Federation," he said.- The deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, Valeriy Chaly, said Kyiv had agreed to an arrangement whereby aid could be transferred across the border and reloaded onto trucks approved by the Red Cross.
- But the Ukrainian government has insisted that aid must cross at a government-held border crossing. At least 100 kilometres of the border is currently in rebel hands.
Chaly said that any attempt to take humanitarian goods into Ukraine without proper authorization would be viewed as an attack on the country...............................http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-says-it-will-deny-access-to-russian-aid-convoy-1.2733986
12/8/14
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Ukraine may block Russian humanitarian aid convoy...
ReplyDeleteUkrainian officials have set conditions for receiving Russian aid in the east, after a huge convoy of food and medicine set off from outside Moscow.
Security council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said aid should pass through a government-controlled border post and be accompanied by Red Cross officials.
There are Western concerns that Russia is using humanitarian assistance as a pretext to invade eastern Ukraine.......................http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28751447
Humanitarian disaster in the Ukraine may be compounded by the environmental catastrophe
ReplyDeleteConvoys carrying humanitarian aid for the residents of south-east Ukraine left the suburbs of Moscow on Tuesday the 12th August. The International Committee of the Red Cross is ready to participate in this mission.
Meanwhile, Kiev is continuing military operations in the region. Chemical plants in the suburbs of Donetsk are the latest targets that came under fire.
Humanitarian assistance is closer to the Lugansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine. For a long time there were active negotiations between Moscow and Kiev about the very possibility of sending bare necessities like medicines, water, food to the region's population suffering as a result of military operations. Efforts to help the needy were hampered by Western countries, says Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov:
“One cannot stop wondering over the statements from Western capitals about what is happening in the south-east of Ukraine. If the assertions of the leaders of London, Washington and Berlin released by the press-services of these countries are to be believed that there is no need for humanitarian assistance in southeast Ukraine because all the necessary measures have already been taken, it is a blatant manifestation of cynicism. I think that in this way Western colleagues are trying to distort the real picture of what is happening, to divert attention from the actions being taken by the Kiev authorities to suppress those who rejected the armed coup in February 2014 in violation of European values and the Constitution of Ukraine.”..................Read more: http://indian.ruvr.ru/2014_08_12/Humanitarian-disaster-Ukraine-catastrophe/
Russian Humanitarian Aid to Enter Ukraine Near Kharkiv – Kiev...
ReplyDeleteThe Russian humanitarian convoy will be allowed into Ukraine via a crossing on the border between Russia’s Belgorod Region and Ukraine’s Kharkiv Region, the deputy head of the presidential administration said Tuesday.
Ukrainian Presidential Administration Deputy Head Valeriy Chaliy said the cargo will be allowed through a “Ukraine-controlled crossing between the Belgorod and Kharkiv regions.”
Chaliy also confirmed the existence of problems with humanitarian deliveries to territory controlled by the local militia.....................http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140812/191946867/Russian-Humanitarian-Aid-to-Enter-Ukraine-Near-Kharkiv--Kiev.html
Kiev a garanti sur le territoire qu'il contrôle la sécurité du convoi acheminant une aide humanitaire russe pour les habitants du sud-est de l'Ukraine,...
ReplyDeleteMoscou compte sur la même attitude de la part des insurgés, a annoncé mardi le chef de la diplomatie russe Sergueï Lavrov.
"Nous comptons sur les assurances des autorités ukrainiennes qui nous ont garanti la sécurité du convoi sur le territoire contrôlé par leurs militaires", a déclaré le ministre devant les journalistes.
Et d'ajouter que les insurgés étaient également informés du passage du convoi humanitaire.
"Aussi, nous attendons-nous à une attitude appropriée de leur part face à cette action humanitaire (…). Je suis certains qu'il n'y aura aucun incident de leur part, les insurgés se trouvant sur le territoire, dont les habitants ont grand besoin d'une aide humanitaire urgente", a souligné M.Lavrov....................http://fr.ria.ru/world/20140812/202122416.html
Moscow agrees to all of Kiev’s demands, changes humanitarian convoy route...
ReplyDeleteMoscow has agreed with all of Kiev’s suggestions regarding the humanitarian mission to the south-east of Ukraine and corrected the convoy route, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.
“We have agreed to the route that is comfortable to the Kiev authorities. We have agreed to have Ukrainian license plates on our trucks during their movement in Ukraine,” he said.
“We have agreed to take on not only representatives of the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and the OSCE [Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe] aboard the trucks but also representatives of the Ukrainian authorities,” the minister said.
Ukraine has decided against reloading relief supplies from the Russian humanitarian convoy after its examination on the border, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.
He said this idea had been proposed during the talks but then rejected.
“They insisted on reloading the cargo from all 287 trucks to the trucks to be provided by the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] but eventually gave it up for obvious reasons as this would have made the humanitarian mission more complicated and costlier,” Lavrov said.
“I hope very much that certain public statements made in Kiev today by some officials who demanded new conditions will be disavowed and that they will not impede the implementation of the agreements reached by Russia, Ukraine and the ICRC,” the minister said.
ICRC officials will meet the convoy on the border with Ukraine at the point that was agreed to by Kiev, examine it and accompany the convoy to the destination, primarily in the Luhansk region, he said.
http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/744688
Le ministère russe des Affaires étrangères a reçu une note de la part du ministère des Affaires étrangères de l'Ukraine, dans laquelle ce dernier exprime sa volonté d'accepter l'aide humanitaire de Russie, selon le ministre des Affaires étrangères Sergueï Lavrov....
ReplyDeleteLavrov a rappelé que ces derniers temps, la Russie travaillait sur les détails sur cette opération humanitaire. « Nous avons élaboré un schéma ensemble avec le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge, le gouvernement de l'Ukraine, et des représentants d'autres organisations internationales, notamment l'ONU et l'OSCE, qui a enfin été finalisé hier », a déclaré Lavrov.
Selon le ministre, la Russie a pris en compte tous les souhaits sans exception de la partie ukrainienne, et notamment l’itinéraire qui a été proposé par les autorités de Kiev, malgré les détours qu’il va falloir réaliser.
Lire la suite: http://french.ruvr.ru/news/2014_08_12/LUkraine-a-promis-daccepter-laide-humanitaire-de-Russie-Lavrov-3237/
Russia’s Putin to Hold Security Council Meeting in Sevastopol...
ReplyDeleteMOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to travel to the port city of Sevastopol in southwestern Crimea where he is to attend a scheduled meeting of the nation’s Security Council, the Kremlin said early Wednesday.
Putin’s working visit to the Crimean Federal District will run through Wednesday and Thursday, when the president is expected to fly back to Moscow to speak before the assembly of Russian political factions in the Duma, the lower house of the country’s parliament.
The Council last met on August 8, when it discussed the humanitarian disaster in Ukraine’s east. To tackle the issue, Russia offered to send humanitarian cargo to the affected territories under the auspices of the Red Cross.........................http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140813/191958943/Russias-Putin-to-Hold-Security-Council-Meeting-in-Sevastopol.html
13/8/14
EU's Ashton ready to call special meeting on Iraq, Ukraine....
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is ready to call a special foreign ministers' meeting as early as this week and is talking to EU governments about it, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
The meeting is expected to cover conflicts in Iraq, Ukraine and Gaza. France and current EU president Italy have been pressing for a special meeting.
An Italian foreign ministry source said that a meeting of EU foreign ministers could be called as early as this week, or at the latest on Monday and Tuesday of next week.
(Reporting by Adrian Croft in Brussels, Steve Scherer in Rome)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/13/us-iraq-security-eu-idUSKBN0GD0X720140813?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews