Kiev, Ukraine. In a move of sheer insanity, some moron in NATO sold the idea that an old plan for the pacification of Croatia, would work in Donbass. It would not take a brilliant foreign affairs expert to realize this was indeed, a bridge too far.
Croatian government members came up with the bright idea that Ukraine should take advantage of the Croatian experience on the implementation of Zagreb-4 (Z-4) plan for the peaceful settlement of the Donbass conflict. The “Petro Plan” as it is known, is one NATO and Washington would love to see implemented, but one for rather obvious reasons, both Donbass and Russia thinks is pure insanity from their western “partners.”
The “Petro Plan,” according to the Croatian media, was already discussed during a visit of the Ukrainian “Ministry of Occupied Territories” delegation led by Minister Vadym Chernysh to Croatia in March this year. And on May 26 in Zagreb there will be a meeting of the working group on cooperation between Croatia and Ukraine, which aims to convey the Croatian experience of peaceful reintegration for using it in Donbas. This according to Ukrainian media.
The first official meeting of this group took place six months after the announcement of the idea of creating this body at a meeting last November in Vukovar. This city was chosen for the purpose of promulgating the initiative of Croatian leaders not by chance: it is the center and symbolic capital, which was returned to Croatia thanks to the plan for peaceful reintegration with the help of transitional UN administration. The United Nations Mission (UNTAES) was established by the UN Security Council (resolution 1037) on January 15, 1996 and operated in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem in 1996-1998.
These are the stages of the “Petro Plan” and how Kiev hopes to take over Donbass from it’s legally declared, independent republics. As you can see, it hinges on getting the arms away from both the DNR-LNR and civilians in the Donbass.
The first stage was total demilitarization. This process assumed:
• the withdrawal of absolutely all Separatist (DNR-LNR) military units,
• disarmament of local paramilitary units,
• withdrawal of weapons from the public.
The entry of the Ukrainian army during the peaceful reintegration is not expected.
The second stage will be the introduction of the so-called transitional police.
The police will be recruited from both ethnic separatist Russians and local Ukrainians. The patrols will be mixed and consist of a Ukrainian, a Russian and a UN representative. As to weapons, the policeman will have only one gun.
There will be no chevrons of any country on the uniform of a “transitional” policeman – neither of Ukraine, nor of Donbass or the Separatists groups, nor of unrecognized republic of Donbass.
The third stage of peaceful reintegration will be the return of refugees.
In the fourth stage of peaceful reintegration, local elections were held in the region.
Only citizens of Ukraine will be eligible to vote.
The fifth stage was the introduction of the national Ukrainian currency in the region, the Grivna.
The sixth stage envisions the so called co-validation – the partial recognition of documents issued by the Donbass separatist authorities.
The seventh stage included activities of the “National Committee for Building Trust.” The policy of restoring confidence included the refusal to prosecute persons who “held arms”, but did not take part in killings or war crimes.
Six months ago, the Croatians came and sold this lemon to the Kiev government, with UN approval. It was all smiles until they actually tried to raise the plan with the Russian delegation at Minsk.
To quote the Ukrainian document, “But the initiative of the Croatian government caused a storm of indignation in the Kremlin. The Russian Foreign Ministry then immediately published a sharp and “undiplomatic statement” regarding the announced cooperation. “We are convinced that the advice of foreign consultants who are able to create a dangerous illusion in Kiev authorities of the admissibility of force scenarios in Donbass will not contribute to strengthening security in the southeast of Ukraine,” the statement said.
Russia told Kiev to stick their UN retread plan where the sun does not shine. Undeterred, the moron faction in Kiev trys to argue that all can go forward as soon as everybody is disarmed. They use these diplomatic arguements that have zero validity or credibility amongst Donbass residents, subjected to a 3 year long genocide by Kiev.
1. Local election must be held only after demilitarization and the return of refugees. Without withdrawal of troops and disarmament, without guarantees of security, voting makes no sense – these are the words of one of the functionaries of the UN mission.
2. After the transition period, the region returns fully to the legal field of the country, under the control of the central government. No special status was given for the region according to the UN peace plan for the reintegration of the Croatian Danube region. And this would be why the Russians told the Ukrainians and Croats to stick their plan up their anal orifice. No special status is a violation of the Minsk agreements Washington and Kiev push so strongly.
So how did the movie end? Well in the end the Croats told the Ukrainians a solution is all about compromise. Ukraine continued to abuse Minsk as a stall to buy time, until finally Donbass went its own way with a nationalization scheme and integration plan to join the Russian Federation. The movie is not over, but the UN “Petro Plan” was indeed a bridge too far.