Kiev liable for crisis in eastern Ukraine: Analyst

Kiev liable for crisis in eastern Ukraine: Analyst

by aletho

Press TV - May 20, 2014

The Kiev government is actually responsible for the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine, a political analyst tells Press TV.

“We can blame the military operation launched by Kiev and this is not just a military operation. It’s not just used military forces of the Ukrainian army; it has also used militias, irregular troops, terrorist units, simple violent hooligans,” Manuel Ochsenreiter, chief editor of news magazine, Zuerst, said in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday.

He held the Kiev government and not Donetsk and Lugansk or even Moscow accountable for the ongoing crisis.

The acting Kiev government has been staging military operations in the eastern and southern regions since mid-April in a bid to root out pro-Moscow demonstrations.

Nearly 130 people have so far been killed during clashes and operations by Ukrainian troops in the east and the south, according to figures from the United Nations.

The commentator further emphasized that the recent referendum in Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk is not responsible for the humanitarian situation as it did not take the social services from the country.

He added that an election or referendum has never changed the direct humanitarian situation of the people on the ground in any time of history, noting that Kiev and the West are likely to use it as an excuse.

“It’s a very cynical interpretation of the situation to say, well, you wanted to be independent, now take starve, don’t find a doctor, now don’t get medicine,” the analyst pointed out.

On May 12, Ukraine’s two eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk declared independence following local referendums in which the regions’ residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Kiev.

~~~