US Demands Russia Force Separatists to Surrender in Ukraine

State Dept 'Not Aware' of Complaints of Excessive Force in Invasion

The US was remarkably ambivalent about the recent fighting in Donetsk, where over 100 rebels were slain, many of them in attacks on trucks carrying the wounded, but were officially “disturbed” today by news of a military helicopter getting shot down in Slovyansk.

And when the US gets disturbed, they start complaining to Russia. Today’s talks between John Kerry and Russian FM Sergey Lavrov centered around Kerry demanding Russia officially condemn the secessionist fighters in Ukraine’s east and force them to disarm and surrender to the central government.

Kerry also reportedly confronted Russia about allegations of Chechen fighters entering Ukraine on Russia’s behalf, a rather absurd notion considering long-standing tensions in Chechnya.

The State Department also downplayed complaints of excessive force by attacking Ukrainian troops against the ethnic Russian easterners, insisting they were not aware of any such concerns, and are comfortable that the central government’s invasion of the east is in keeping with international law. They also insisted the fighting wasn’t a “real” civil war, claiming the secessionists are all “foreigners” sent by Russia to create mayhem.
 

 

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.