Pro-Russian fighters poised for offensive in Ukraine: Pentagon chief
Pro-Russian fighters are getting ready to make a fresh offensive in the volatile-eastern region of Ukraine, the US defense secretary says.
"It does appear that clearly, Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine are preparing for another round of military action that would be inconsistent with the Minsk [II] agreement," Ashton Carter told the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on Wednesday.
Carter made the remarks as Ukraine's warring sides, anti-Kiev forces in the east and the US-backed army, met in the Belarusian capital Minsk to shore up a ceasefire deal, known as Minsk II.
The Minsk Protocol was an agreement to halt the war in the Donbass region of Ukraine, signed on September 5, 2014. By January 2015, however, the Minsk Protocol ceasefire had completely collapsed. A new package of measures meant to stop fighting in the Donbass, called "Minsk II," was agreed to on February 12, 2015.
The two sides, however, have continued to engage in sporadic clashes.
Carter also told senators that the sanctions imposed on Russia were the most successful method to pressure Moscow “over its role in the conflict.”
The Pentagon chief said that "if there is anything that influences Russian behavior, it's the combination of economic sanctions and the fall in oil prices. That is punishing Russia now."
He added that "it is the weight of European sanctions that matters, mostly because they do most of the trade done with Russia."
The US and its allies accuse Moscow of sending troops into eastern Ukraine in support of the pro-Russian forces. Moscow has long denied involvement in Ukraine's crisis.
The Kremlin has described Washington’s foreign policy on Ukraine as “aggressive” which “fails to meet present-day realities and demonstrates that the United States actually wants to dominate the world.”
Ties between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated over the crisis in Ukraine after pro-Western forces ousted the country’s president Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
The US and the European Union have already imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia, including visa bans and asset freezes.
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