(Newswire.net — February 13, 2015) — The leaders of France, Germany, Russia Ukraine, and a group of Ukrainian rebels signed a document in peace talks in Minsk, under which pro-NATO government and pro-Russian rebels agreed to cease fire on February 15th. “I believe we agreed on a big deal. We agreed to a ceasefire starting at 00:00 on February 15,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told the media.
“The main thing achieved is that from Saturday into Sunday there should be declared – without any conditions at all – a general ceasefire,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told journalists in a separate statement.
According to the peace document, obtained by Russia Today, Kiev’s troops would pull back heavy weapons from the current frontline. The rebels would pull back from the line, as it existed in September 2014. Basically, the troops need to pull back to the positions they were when the previous seize of fire was agreed.
According to an RT report, the security zone separating the warring parties must be at least 50km wide for artillery over 100mm caliber, 70km for regular multiple rocket launchers and 100km for heavier weapons with a longer range, such as Tochka-U ballistic missiles, the document states.
In addition, the document state withdrawal of all “foreign troops, heavy weapons and mercenaries” from Ukraine under OSCE monitoring. “Illegal armed groups” would be transformed into the local militia units.
The agreement involves exchange of all prisoners within a 19 day period, and general amnesty for the rebels declared officially by Kiev who will regain control of the border.
That means that Ukraine will regain control of the Donetsk and Lugansk territory, however, they must give special autonomy with permanent privileges. The document is similar to the UN Resolution 1244 on Kosovo, which leaved KSerbian southern province as the part of the Serbia but with full autonomy under OSCE and EULEX control. However, Kosovo’s Albanian government unilaterally declared independency from Serbia without referendum and Kosovo was immediately recognized as the state by most of the NATO countries.
Geo-political experts believe that Ukrainain president Poroshenko fears the same thing could happen with the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, and the ‘special autonomy’ and privileges he signed, could lead those regions to act like Crimea and sooner or later declare as the part of the Russian Federation.