Tit-for-tat diplomacy over Ukraine

Mohammad Amjad Hossain from Virginia, USA | Published: August 17, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

West suspicious as Russian aid convoy.

It is not 'ping-pong' diplomacy. It is now tit-for-tat diplomacy between the West and the Russian Federation over the issue of pro-Russian separatists controlling the city of Luhansk in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Russia banned imports of meat, fish, dairy products, vegetables and fruits from the West on August 05 in retaliation against sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union on Russia over Ukraine. Sanctions imposed by Russia are meant for one year. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev outlined the import products, such as pork, beef, poultry, cheese, vegetables, fruit, and other dairy products from the US, Canada, the European Union, Norway and Australia. A ban on Ukrainian flights transiting through the Russian airspace was also announced. Sanctions on most food items by Russia reflect the trends of Cold War era when the Soviet Union did not have any access to food items from the West. The Soviet Union and countries in Eastern Europe were interdependent in respect of food and other utility items.
Since most of the Eastern European countries are independent of Russia since 1991 after the fall of the Soviet empire, measures imposed by Russia could hit its consumers hard. Similarly, it goes without saying imposition of sanctions would affect the economies of the West as well. Poultry represents the largest share of US agricultural exports to Russia, according to one estimate, accounting to more than US$ 300 million. Russia has banned import of poultry from the US last year citing food safety concerns. Having seen sanctions imposed by Russia, farmers in France and Greece have requested the European Union to compensate producers or support prices as a result of the Russian sanctions. Trade war with Russia would affect producers from the West, including some countries in Eastern Europe. Russia is already feeling the pinch from the European Union sanctions as has been reflected when Russia was forced to ground all its planes because they could not maintain its aircraft fleet without European spare parts.
This is one side of the coin in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The other side is that the war of words between US Secretary John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took place in connection with proposed dispatch of humanitarian team to Donetsk by Russia. The US Secretary of State did not accept the proposal nor did any European country.
Since the conflict had begun in April when a section of pro-Russian separatists declared Donetsk a Republic, separated from Ukraine unilaterally, some 1,500 people have been killed and many injured. According to one report, 3,00,000 fled the city either to Russia or other towns. On August 08, the Ukraine military intensified its action in Donetsk region by gunfire and rockets and encircled the pro-Russian insurgents. The action by the Ukraine military caused damage to buildings and a few causalities as well.
The Russian administration of Vladimir Putin has been clamouring to send humanitarian team to eastern part of Ukraine to assist the victims of fighting between Ukraine forces and pro-Russian separatists with food and relief materials. The West, including the NATO, expressed its doubts that Russia would use humanitarian mission as a pretext to send its troops and arms.
The present unrest in eastern part of Ukraine has been compounded with the alleged shooting down of a Malaysian passenger plane on July 17 in the Donetsk region by pro-Russian separatists. All evidences suggest that separatists brought down the plane with a Russia-supplied missile but the Russian news media has begun an orchestrated campaign to pass the buck on the government of Ukraine. That was not the single incident. Previously, two fighter planes and one passenger plane of Ukraine were shot down by the separatists. The fact is that shooting down of a passenger plane at high altitude was simply impossible without Russia-supplied missiles. It is as simple as that. Many investigators from the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia went back disheartened because of obstruction created by pro-Russian separatists to have unfettered access to area of the plane disaster in spite of the request of these countries. Apparently, the Russian administration of Putin did not pay any heed to their requests.
Russia is apparently answerable to the world community for such a man-made disaster which cost lives of 299 innocent people from around the world.
Instead of stopping nefarious acts of vengeance, President Vladimir Putin has adopted another tactic to capture the eastern part of Ukraine in the name of humanitarian act to save the lives of pro-Russian Ukrainians who are now trapped in Donetsk and Luhansk regions because of conflicts between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists forces. Latest report is that a Russian convoy of 300 lorries with food, medicines and baby food have left Moscow towards Luhansk region, according to BBC while the Ukraine administration indicated that humanitarian aid could be received with following conditions: lorries should pass through a border post controlled by Ukraine guards, secondly, it should be accompanied by Red Cross representatives and thirdly, a decision should be made about the volume being sent, its destination and routes. The Secretary-General of the NATO, however, said, "We see the Russians developing the narrative and the pretext for such an operation under the guise of humanitarian operations, and we see a military build-up that could be used to conduct such illegal military operation in Ukraine". Foreign Minister of France Laurent Fabius also shares the opinion of the NATO Secretary-General by saying: "Such a mission could be a way for the Russian military to install itself in eastern Ukraine and present the world with a fait accompli". Russia deployed extra 8,000 troops along its border with Ukraine - bringing the number of Russian troops to around 20,000 along with tanks, artilleries and several fighter aircraft.
There is no doubt that humanitarian situation does exist in Donetsk and Luhansk regions because of the situation created by pro-Russian separatists in collusion with the Russian Federation and representative government of Ukraine, an independent and sovereign country. That the humanitarian situation in conflict regions is critical has been acknowledged by the International Committee of Red Cross. It is hoped that Vladimir Putin will refrain from taking another adventurous act by invading eastern part of Ukraine in the name of supplying humanitarian aid as he did in case of the Crimea peninsula of Ukraine on the pretext of holding referendum by pro-Russian Ukrainians.
The writer is a retired Bangladesh diplomat. amjad.21@gmail.com