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Latest articles from Vladimir Socor
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Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande Attempt to Mediate Between Russia and Ukraine
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande conferred during the night of February 5–6 with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv. The three leaders and their advisory teams discussed a proposal from Russian President Vladimir Putin for an armistice in Ukraine, and a... MORE
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Russia’s War in Ukraine Sinks the Minsk Negotiations (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. The breakdown of the Minsk negotiations process (see Part One in EDM, February 4) had become obvious even before its final collapse on January 31. Moscow, along with the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (“DPR” and “LPR,” respectively)... MORE
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Russia’s War in Ukraine Sinks the Minsk Negotiations (Part One)
Russia’s and its proxies’ military advantage (see EDM, January 22, February 3) is increasingly shaping the Minsk process of negotiations to Ukraine’s detriment. That process maintains the fiction that Russia is not a party to the conflict in Ukraine. Ukraine’s official position in Kyiv and... MORE
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Russia Grinds Down Ukrainian Troops While Western Support Is Elusive
Russian and proxy forces are attacking Ukrainian positions at multiple points along the frontline since mid-January 2015, bringing to bear superior armored forces, unmatched heavy firepower and electronic warfare support. These offensive operations are mostly positional and attritional for the time being, with a distinct... MORE
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Russian Political Warfare to Disrupt Ukraine’s Military Mobilization
A new phase of Russia’s war is ongoing since mid-January in Ukraine’s east. This phase has broken the informal “silence regime” that had taken effect since December 9, which had mainly restrained the use of heavy artillery and multiple missile launchers. It is on these... MORE
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Now You See It, Now You Don’t: Putin Cheating on the Armistice Line in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing a cheating game with the West and Ukraine, not only hollowing out the Minsk armistice agreements (see EDM, January 22, 23, 27), but even shifting the agreed-upon demarcation line on the ground and on the map. Kyiv is alert... MORE
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Lavrov Unilaterally Reinterprets the Armistice Agreement With Ukraine
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had hoped to see the Minsk armistice process rehabilitated at the “Normandy Group’s” January 21 meeting in Berlin (see EDM, January 22, 23). Prefacing that meeting of the German, French, Russian and Ukrainian ministers of foreign affairs, Merkel declared: “The Minsk... MORE
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Russia Seeks Political Influence on Ukraine Via the ‘Normandy’ Group
Foreign affairs ministers Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, Sergei Lavrov of Russia, Pavlo Klimkin of Ukraine, and Laurent Fabius of France—representing the so-called “Normandy” group of countries—met in Berlin on January 21. Germany convened the meeting amid an upsurge in Russian-led attacks on Ukrainian positions along... MORE
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Russia Pressures Ukraine to Change Minsk Armistice Terms
Russian regular and proxy forces have attacked Ukrainian positions at selected points along the entire length of the demarcation line in recent days. This operation threatens to shift the demarcation line and the whole existing basis of the September 2014 Minsk armistice. Russia has blocked... MORE
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Armed Formations in the Secessionist ‘Luhansk Republic’ (Part Four)
*To read Part One, please click here. *To read Part Two, please click here. *To read Part Three, please click here. Local ataman (historically, a Cossack leader) rule proliferates in the power vacuum of the “Luhansk People’s republic” (LPR). Russian forces seized this area from... MORE