The article translated below was published in Argumenty i Fakty on the 12th of February 2016.
The title of the article is reference to a Russian proverb: Lean peace is better than a good strife (or the English proverb Better a lean peace than a fat victory).
Headlines for related articles (in Russian) are also quite telling:
- Head of DPR: Kiev has amassed enough forces for an assault
- Shall not forget, shall not forgive. Why Donbass residents don’t want to be with Ukraine
- DPR Deputy Defence Minister: we are fighting at the call of the heart, Ukraine – for the money
- There will be no “dumping”. What awaits Donbass in the near future
- In Minsk, Ukraine works for separation of Donbass
- En-route to independence. Russia recognises the passports of the Donbass republics
February the 12th marks one year of “Minsk-2” – Donbass agreements, concluded after a night of negotiations of leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine. Kiev is still not in a hurry to fulfilling its obligations.
Meanwhile, as “AiF” discovered, the residents of Donbass still have to go to work over the minefields.
They are still shooting
The main condition for the implementation of the Minsk agreements still remains a complete cease-fire, however not even a full “regime of silence” was ever established in the Donbass. The OCSE mission report clearly states: shooting goes on. Only on the 2nd of February there were recorded “514 explosions of uncertain origin”, “more than 100 firing bursts from heavy machine guns” and “more than 1,000 rounds of small arms at a distance of 3-5 km to the west of the observers’ position in a controlled by DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) railway station in Donetsk”.