|
Russia to cut funds for Donetsk, Lugansk
 The Russian 2018 federal budget does not include money for humanitarian aid for the separatist states of Donetsk and Lugansk, according to a Russian language news account. According to an article that appeared in regnum.ru, during a September 1st meeting with deputy prime minister Dmitry Kozak it was announced that the money normally used for aiding the breakaway republic, 165 million rubles (USD $2,864,584.80), will be shifted to Crimea and to Kalinigrad. An additional 85 million rubles (USD $1,475,695.20) are to be spent on infrastructure projects in Crimea. Other monies are to be spent in Kaliningrad include for a fiber optic data cable and a new ferry line. The article goes on to state that, thus far, the meeting was held to flesh out proposals; that all of the line items are proposals. Press requests to one of Russian president Vladimir Putin's aides, Dmitry Peskov and another to the finance ministry have so far been left unanswered. Both Lugansk and Donetsk have been recipients of Russian financial aide in paying for pensions of local residents that Ukraine has refused to pay. How this shifting of money will affect the pensioners is left unstated. If the proposals come to fruition, it appears to be a clear signal to the West that Russia is ready to abandon its support of the two republics to their fate at the Minsk negotiating table. A recent proposal from Putin to use UN peacekeeping troops in the region has been met with approval from the civil leadership of Lugansk and Donetsk, an idea soundly rejected by Ukraine. Despite the lack of news and the relative calm in the region, both sides routinely take pot shots at one another daily, and both sides are causing casualties. Posted by: badanov 2017-09-16 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=497470 |