Written by Nikolaus von Twickel<\/p>\n
Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the end of the Football World Cup in Russia and the US-Russian summit in Helsinki, the current \u201charvest ceasefire\u201d is holding, prompting some separatists to praise the OSCE and even Ukraine. And a key \u201cDNR\u201d military commander claims that the OSCE enables communication channels between separatists and Ukraine. The Donetsk separatist leader continues to keep a low profile and there is worrying news about detained journalist Stanislav Aseyev.<\/p>\n Separatists praise OSCE Mission for ceasefire<\/strong><\/p>\n The fact that the latest ceasefire initiative is bringing positive results has elicited rare praise from some separatist leaders for the Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Ukrainian side. Denis Pushilin, the Donetsk \u201cPeople\u2019s Republic\u201d chief Minsk negotiator and Speaker of \u201cParliament\u201d said that the so-called harvest ceasefire, announced on June 27, has brought \u201cpositive dynamic\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking during an interview<\/a> with the official DAN news site, published on July 17, Pushilin argued that the biggest improvement had been at the Donetsk Filtration Station, which had been the scene of violent fighting earlier this year.<\/p>\n Pushilin said that the stabilization surrounding the station, which lies direct on the frontline, was the personal achievement of the OSCE Monitoring Mission\u2019s first deputy head Alexander Hug and of the representatives of the \u201cDNR\u201d and Ukraine in the Joint Control and Co-ordination Centre (JCCC) – the military monitoring mission originally set up between Ukraine and Russia in 2014.<\/p>\n His comments were echoed by Ruslan Yakubov, the \u201cDNR\u201d representative to the JCCC, who said in an interview<\/a> published by DAN on July 9 that it was the OSCE\u2019s Hug alone who brokered the agreement between both sides at the Filtration Station. \u201cThis case shows that if the sides want, they can reach agreements. We would like to see more of that,\u201d he was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n Public praise for the OSCE is extremely rare from the separatists, who have staged a number of demonstrations against the Mission in both Donetsk and Luhansk. Last month, the \u201cDNR\u201d Information \u201cMinistry\u201d published a video report<\/a> in which civilians say that the international observers are useless.<\/p>\n Both Pushilin and Yakubov also accused Ukraine of being an unreliable adversary blaming Kiev for torpedoing a new list of ad-hoc measures to make ceasefires more stable. Pushilin also claimed that Ukraine had planned an attack during World Cup, but called it off after Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a stern warning<\/a> to Kiev in June.<\/p>\n Both Russian, separatist and Ukrainian media had been awash with speculation that either side might use the World Cup and the ensuing media coverage for \u201cprovocations\u201d on its behalf. In one of the more bizarre statements, the \u201cLNR\u201d State Security \u201cMinistry\u201d claimed<\/a> that Ukraine was preparing radical football fans to infiltrate the \u201cPeople\u2019s Republic\u201d.<\/p>\n US President Donald Trump\u2019s meeting with Putin in Helsinki also did not show any immediate effect in Donbass. The head of the OSCE Mission, Ertugrul Apakan said on July 19<\/a> that \u201ckinetic activity\u201d (shelling and shooting) decreased by 85 per cent along the contact line during the first seven days since the \u201charvest ceasefire\u201d began.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s departure from JCCC did not change anything \u2013 DNR commander<\/strong><\/p>\n The head of the Donetsk separatists\u2019 JCCC team Ruslan Yakubov also made interesting comments about the Centre\u2019s work since Russia withdrew its officers in December.<\/p>\n Contrary to fears that the withdrawal would lead to a deterioration of the security situation (see our annual report 2017, p. 4<\/a>), Yakubov argued that nothing substantial had changed because the \u201cDNR\u201d had 100 per cent taken over the Russians\u2019 role, and that co-operation with the Ukrainian military was now being done via the OSCE.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough the (OSCE) Mission, the sides inform each other online about ceasefire violations \u2026 in order to achieve a quick cessation of hostilities. Also via the Mission the sides request security guarantees to allow repair works along the Contact Line. Direct dialogue does not exist,\u201d he was quoted as saying<\/a>.<\/p>\n The JCCC is headquartered in Soledar, a government-controlled town in the Donetsk region. Russia withdrew its soldiers from the Centre in December, arguing<\/a> that Ukraine had made the conditions for their work too harsh.<\/p>\n But Yakubov said that the JCCC\u2019s efficiency had already been greatly reduced in 2015, when Ukraine introduced a permit system that made it impossible for \u201cDNR\u201d officers to cross into government-held areas.<\/p>\n The OSCE Mission has not commented on Yakubov\u2019s statement. Its deputy head Alexander Hug said in an interview<\/a> in February, that the Mission \u201cengages with the sides directly to ensure the continuation of its operations, including those operations that the JCCC has been involved in.\u201d<\/p>\n Yakubov has been the \u201cDNR\u201d JCCC representative since October 2017. Before, he was Chief of Staff of the Donetsk separatist forces and widely believed to be the single most influential military commander. Nothing is known of Yakubov\u2019s previous biography, and according to the Ukrainian database \u201cMyrotvorets<\/a>\u201d, he hails from Russia.<\/p>\n Where is Zakharchenko?<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, \u201cDNR\u201d leader Alexander Zakharchenko conspicuously failed to make public appearances. The last update of his website, a short interview<\/a> with Russia\u2019s RIA Novosti news agency, dates from July 5. The last video of his regular programme \u201cOtvet za Respubliki\u201d was uploaded on June 30, two days after Zakharchenko had his last TV appearance for a question and answer show (see Newsletter 35<\/a>).<\/p>\n Konstantin Dolgov, a former Donetsk-based video blogger now living in Russia, pointed out<\/a> that that Zakharchenko failed to appear for the locally important \u201cMetallurgy Workers\u2019 Day\u201d on July 15 \u2013 unlike his Luhansk colleague Leonid Pasechnik, who held a meeting<\/a> with factory directors.<\/p>\n In his latest video blog<\/a>, Dolgov keeps up his mocking criticism of Zakharchenko, e.g. by recalling the first anniversary of the \u201cDNR\u201d leader\u2019s ill-fated proclamation of \u201cMalorossia\u201d, a state comprising the \u201cPeople\u2019s Republics\u201d and Ukraine proper (see Newsletter 23<\/a>).<\/p>\n Even longer absent from public view has been Zakharchenko\u2019s main critic, former commander Alexander Khodakovsky, who has not updated his Facebook<\/a> and vkontakte<\/a> accounts since early May. Khodakovsky\u2019s vanishing has been linked with the upcoming elections in both \u201cDNR\u201d and \u201cLNR\u201d, expected to be held in November. Zakharchenko has said that he will run, but has notably abstained from declaring the election campaign open.<\/p>\n No good news from captured journalist Aseyev<\/strong><\/p>\n The separatists also continued to release no information about Stanislav Aseyev, a journalist from Donetsk who vanished last summer and is believed to be held by the separatists on spying charges.<\/p>\n Aseyev, whose name is sometimes spelt Aseev, went on a hunger strike at the end of June to protest against his bad treatment in detention, according to<\/a> Yehor Firsov, a former MP and friend of Aseyev, who moved from Donetsk to Kiev in 2014. On July 18, Firsov said that separatists were publishing a falsified diary of Aseyev in which he writes about working for Ukrainian intelligence.<\/p>\n That diary can be found<\/a> in a news group called \u201ca Russian in Donbass\u201d on the Russian Yandex zen platform.<\/p>\n In his Facebook post<\/a>, Firsov says that those texts are fake and publishes images of what he says is Aseyev\u2019s real diary. He also warns that the separatists are threatening to imprison Aseyev\u2019s mother if he does not confess the spying allegations.<\/p>\n Aseyev, who wrote under the pseudonym Stanislav Vasin for Ukrainian media, is believed to have been abducted last summer by the infamous \u201cDNR\u201d State Security \u201cMinistry\u201d. In January, Ihor Kozlovsky, a scientist who was freed after almost two years of captivity, confirmed<\/a> that Aseyev is being held in a Donetsk factory.<\/p>\n