Kiev requested an urgent meeting with the Vienna Document member countries | News from Germany about Ukraine | DW

Ukraine called for a meeting within 48 hours with Russia and all participating states of the 2011 Vienna Document on Confidence and Security Building Measures. The corresponding entry was posted by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba on Sunday, February 13, on Twitter.

According to the country’s foreign minister, Moscow did not respond to Kiev’s request for this document. Ukraine, in particular, demanded “an explanation of unusual military activity” near its borders through the channels of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

As Kuleba specified, the meeting is necessary, in particular, “to discuss the strengthening and movement of Russian troops along our border” and in the annexed Crimea.

“Russia must fulfill its obligations on the issue of military transparency”

“If Russia takes seriously its words about the indivisibility of security in the OSCE area, it must fulfill its obligations on the issue of military transparency in order to reduce tension and strengthen security for all participating States,” he concluded.

Earlier, Dmitry Kuleba emphasized that “according to the provisions of the Vienna Document, the Russian Federation must provide the exact areas for conducting military activities, indicate the date of its completion, as well as the name, subordination, number of military formations, types of weapons and military equipment involved in it.”

The Baltic States sent a request to Minsk regarding the exercises

In turn, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – in accordance with Chapter III of the Vienna Document – demanded that Belarus provide more information about its large-scale joint military exercises with Russia, which began on February 10, the Defense Ministry in Riga said. The request was made through the OSCE.

The Baltic states were waiting for more information from Minsk, in particular on the types and numbers of troops participating in the maneuvers, as well as on the weapons systems they use.

What is the Vienna Document

The Vienna Document on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures was adopted on 30 November 2011. Its goal is to implement confidence- and security-building measures, increase stability and reduce the threat of military conflicts in the countries that are members of the OSCE.

For example, OSCE participating States should exchange information annually on military forces and major weapons systems, on defense measures and military budgets. The document provides for a mechanism for consultations and cooperation in connection with unusual military activities, as well as dangerous incidents of a military nature.

See also:

• A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  The collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of the CIS

  In December 1991, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus documented the collapse of the USSR. Moscow apparently hoped to maintain influence through the CIS and cheap gas supplies. But it turned out differently. The Russian Federation and Belarus created a union state, Ukraine increasingly looked to the West. In the photo: Leonid Kravchuk, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Boris Yeltsin and Stanislav Shushkevich during the official founding of the CIS in Almaty.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Legacy of the USSR and the Budapest Memorandum

  Ukraine inherited from the USSR almost a million strong army and the 3rd largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Kiev refused the missiles, handing them over to Russia in exchange for economic assistance and security guarantees (Budapest Memorandum of 1994). While the West did not reciprocate Kiev and was not going to integrate it into its structures, the reaction of the Russian Federation was restrained. In the photo: Russian and US leaders Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Cracks in Post-Soviet Friendship: Tuzla Conflict

  The first major diplomatic crisis between Moscow and Kiev occurred under President Putin. In the fall of 2003, Russia suddenly began building a dam in the Kerch Strait towards the Ukrainian island of Tuzla. Kiev considered this an attempt to redistribute borders. The conflict was resolved after a personal meeting of the presidents. Construction was stopped, but the first cracks appeared on the facade of friendly relations between the two countries.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Orange Revolution 2004

  In the presidential elections in Ukraine in 2004, the Russian Federation actively supported the pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych, but the Orange Revolution prevented him from winning amid accusations of fraud. Pro-Western politician Viktor Yushchenko became president. His victory became the starting point of changes in the policy of the Russian Federation, designed to prevent what Moscow calls “color revolutions.”

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Shutting off Ukraine’s “gas valve” in the 2000s

  During Viktor Yushchenko’s presidency, the Russian Federation twice shut off the “gas valve” to Ukraine – in 2006 and 2009, which led to interruptions in transit supplies to Europe. In the photo: a Gazprom employee at the Sudzha gas measuring station, 200 meters from the Ukrainian border, Kursk Region, Russia, 2009.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  The promise of NATO membership

  The key event happened in 2008. At the NATO summit in Bucharest, US President George W. Bush tried to get Ukraine and Georgia to receive a Membership Action Plan (MAP). Putin sharply objected, making it clear that he did not fully recognize the independence of Ukraine. As a result, Germany and France blocked Bush’s plan. Ukraine and Georgia were promised NATO membership, but no date.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Ukraine’s course towards the European Union

  It was not possible to move quickly towards joining NATO, and Ukraine set a course for economic rapprochement with the EU. In the summer of 2013, the Russian Federation began to exert massive pressure on Kiev, almost cutting off Ukrainian exports at the border. The Yanukovych government has suspended preparations for signing an association agreement with Brussels. Soon protests began in Ukraine, in February 2014 Yanukovych fled to Russia.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Russian annexation of Crimea

  A power vacuum emerged in Ukraine, in March 2014 Russia annexed Crimea. This was a turning point, the beginning of an undeclared war. Pictured: Russian military in Crimea (Simferopol, March 2014).

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  War in Donbass

  At the same time, Russian and local paramilitary structures provoked an outbreak of separatism in the Donbass, “people’s republics” were proclaimed in Donetsk and Lugansk, which were led by people who had come from the Russian Federation in unmarked uniforms. Kiev reacted slowly, waiting for the presidential elections at the end of May 2014, and only then decided on a large-scale use of force.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Birth of the Normandy Format

  In early June 2014, in France, at events marking the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, newly elected President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met for the first time with his Russian counterpart Putin through the mediation of the leaders of Germany and France. This is how the “Norman format” was born.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  “Ilovaisky cauldron”

  In the summer of 2014, the Ukrainian army began to push back the separatists, but at the end of August, Russia, according to Kiev, used its army on a large scale in the Donbass. Moscow denies this. The peak of the conflict was the defeat of the Ukrainian forces near Ilovaisk. The war along the entire front line ended with the signing of a ceasefire in Minsk in September, which was quickly broken.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Positional war continues

  In early 2015, the separatists went on a broad offensive. Kiev accused Moscow of using an unmarked army, the Russian Federation denied everything. Ukrainian forces were defeated near the city of Debaltseve. Then, with the mediation of Germany and France, “Minsk-2” was signed, an agreement that still remains the main document for the settlement of the conflict. None of its points has been fully implemented.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  The concentration of Russian troops on the border of Ukraine

  In 2021, there was a new aggravation. Russia twice, in spring and autumn, drew up its troops to the western borders. Ukrainian and Western intelligence reports about the threat of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. To defuse the situation, a series of international negotiations took place in the West. However, the Russian Federation demands guarantees that Ukraine will not join NATO and lets know that it is not going to withdraw troops yet.

  Author: Roman Goncharenko