DONETSK, November 15 (RIA Novosti) —The decree on full economic blockade of Donbas signed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday is de-facto an act on genocide and devastation of the people of southeastern Ukraine, the head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) Igor Plotnitsky said Saturday.
“The decree on the full economic blockade of Donbas, [signed] today by Poroshenko is de-facto an act on genocide and devastation of our people. It is outrageous that the European Union and the United States support this nouveau rich who came to power amid the Maidan deaths. He acts in the worst traditions of Nazism. He wants to turn Donbas into a concentration camp,” Plotnitsky said.
Addressing the same issue, the chairman of Donetsk People's Republic's (DPR) Supreme Council Denis Pushilin said that the new decree poses a threat to the Minsk process of peaceful settlement of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine.
"Poroshenko's decree on economic blockade is yet another serious violation of Minsk protocol. And specifically of the third point, presupposing the adoption of the law on the special status of Donbas, the agreed concept of which presupposes granting the region with special economic advantages and means for recovery. The eighth point, obliging Ukraine to improve humanitarian situation and the point, according to which Ukraine has to ensure economic recovery of Donbas. After the adoption of this decree the Minsk process is once again under threat," Pushilin said. He also called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to assess the new decree.
Earlier on Saturday Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has ordered a halt in serving bank accounts of enterprises and residents in southeastern Ukraine within a month. He also ordered to evacuate all state institutions and courts from the territories of anti-terror operation in Donbas and asked the government to keep the Council of Europe informed on the "forced" violations of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights that Kiev commits in the region.
In April, Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation in the country's southeast, where independence supporters refused to recognize the new government which ceased power in Kiev following a coup in February.
On September 5, the warring sides struck a breakthrough deal that resulted in the establishment of a ceasefire in the eastern regions of Ukraine. However, both sides have been accusing each other of violating the truce since the ceasefire agreement came into force.
According to the latest figures by the United Nations, the Ukrainian conflict has claimed at least 4,132 lives.
