US abusing Minsk II agreement on Ukraine: Analyst

The United States is abusing the framework of the Minsk II agreement on Ukraine to pursue its own agenda in the Eastern European region, a geopolitical analyst in Europe says.

Joaquin Flores, who is the director of the Center for Syncretic Studies in Belgrade, Serbia, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Wednesday while commenting on a statement by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

“I think there was strong agreement among all of the NATO members that this is a critical moment for action by Russia, by the separatists, to live up to the Minsk agreement,” Kerry said on Wednesday.

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.

Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday and then flew to Antalya, Turkey, to brief NATO foreign ministers on his eight hours talks with Russian officials.

Talking to NATO foreign ministers, the top US diplomat said there was an "enormous moment of opportunity" to end over a year of fighting in eastern Ukraine.

It was the most extensive, high-level talks between Washington and Moscow since the Ukraine conflict erupted in early 2014.

Flores said, “What was strange is that Kerry brought up the Minsk II agreement, and something rather strange to Russia which was that it wanted it or was urged that Russia would adhere to it which of course presupposes the idea that they are not adhering to it.”

“Another thing about this that I think is a bit disturbing is that the United States is not a party to the Minsk II agreement, or they are not a signatory, they are not involved in the Minsk II agreement in a formal way,” he added.

“So it is strange for Kerry as a representative for the United States to becoming as a non-interested party, in legal terms, that they should adhere to some agreement,” he further said.

“It is also dangerous because the Minsk II agreement was enshrined at the level of the UN Security Council, and on that point the US in its capacity as a member of the Security Council did support the Minsk II agreement,” he continued.

Flores said that “what we can see is that the United States is trying to set Russia up to say that it is in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions, which is of course a very, very serious allegation.”

“It is, nevertheless, very, very bad diplomacy on the part of the United States, and I think that what we can see is a general pattern in which the US, Kerry as its representative, are really abusing the framework of the Minsk II agreement to pursues its own agenda,” he stated.

Kerry’s statement was “part of a propaganda war which the United States is really trying to wage and unfortunately the victims in this will be the residents in Donbass who are still subject to numerous attacks by Kiev government,” he concluded.

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