Ukraine's parliament has passed a law allowing its intelligence units to carry out military operations in eastern Ukraine. If the President Petro Poroshenko signs the law, it would allow special services to infiltrate and operate in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics.
RT: How does this current move from Kiev correlate with the current peace process in east Ukraine?
Daniel McAdams: I think it’s a provocation and it is designed to be a provocation. The goal is stated clearly from Kiev and it’s echoed in Washington, and to a degree in Berlin, as well, which is that Ukraine needs to be whole again - that is the point they are making including eastern Ukraine and even Crimea. So it is meant to be a provocation.
The problem is the government in Kiev is operating with what in finance circles is called “moral hazard”- they feel they have the US particularly and the West in general behind them. So they feel they can engage in every moral reckless behavior because there are no consequences to the actions that they take. But if it does pass, I think it may give us some information, some indication as to what all of the visits from the CIA director to Kiev over the past year and a half were all about. And then we can probably start seeing things like assassinations in Donetsk and Lugansk, bombs going off, provocations, psychological operations. I think it opens the whole can of worms.
RT: The parliament in Kiev also voted on a bill branding some territories in the east as 'occupied' including Crimea. What is Kiev trying to achieve here?
DM: Because they can get away with it. The law on autonomy now is going to be granted only after elections take place under Kiev’s rules and laws which definitely goes against the Minsk agreements. They will be supervised by the OSCE which has hardly shown itself to be objective in this case. You’re basically having a de facto taking over of these regions all over again.
RT: What reaction are we expecting internationally, especially from France and Germany who are part of the Normandy Four?
DM: I don’t think they are going to do that much because they have not been willing to speak up and to reprimand their clients in Kiev so far. Yesterday, President Obama had a talk with Chancellor Merkel. And at least, according to the White House’s reading of the conversation, they are in complete agreement about retaining the sanctions on Russia and that the Minsk agreements needed to be fully implemented. So they are simply interpreting the Minsk agreement to suit their ultimate goal, which is the bringing of the regions of the east back under Kiev’s control.
RT: Do you think Washington and Europe are united on this objective?
DM: I wouldn’t say necessarily united but I think over the past year or so we’ve seen that Germany is ready to break. But aside from whisperers in the German intelligence community that basically half of the US generals are bunkers, there has been no real indication that Germany is ready to break. So I think reluctantly they are going along.
RT: Despite the ceasefire, Kiev is still waiting for weapons from its Western partners. President Poroshenko says they're in contact with several EU countries, while Washington debates whether to send lethal arms. Why would the Ukrainian authorities need that if they're in the middle of a truce?
DM: Kiev has also announced that it is going to have a 250,000-person army. They are clearly remilitarizing. I think it was today that [Prime Minister Arseniy] Yatsenyuk said that Russia must get out of eastern Ukraine. [That] is interesting because today is the 12th anniversary of the start of the war against Iraq. And it was the same sort of thing. Although, that has never been proven that Russia is in Ukraine, we saw the same thing 12 years ago when neocons said “Saddam Hussein must give up his weapons of mass destruction or we will invade”. So you’re seeing the same lies are being used to justify war all over again. It is kind of sad that we don’t learn from these mistakes.
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