Official Ban on Cargo Traffic with Donbas

UKRAINE - In Brief 15 Mar 2017 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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Forceful dismantling of one of the block-posts, which prevented coal supplies from Donbas, triggered quite dangerous developments. Few parliamentary parties Samopomitch (led by Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyy) and UKROP (funded by oligarch Igor Kolomoyskiy) made very harsh public statements and started gathering supporters to prevent further unblocking of trading routs. Some groups of blockade supporters, heading to the east, entered in direct confrontation with police forces. Situation was running out of control. As a result today in the morning the National Security and Defense Council officially forbid cargo traffic with occupied territories. But the only remark: this ban touches only the companies Russia’s proxies recently nationalized. How should we understand all the developments? Stopped cash flow from Rottedam+ created substantial difficulties for Poroshenko. Negotiations with potential allies also probably did not bring results. Poroshenko team decided to test reaction on forceful unblocking. Reaction on block-post dismantling was quite telling and did not promise anything good. We saw in media desperate lulling that unblocking of trade with Donbas will not lead to mass protests. However, people’s reaction was quite different. Many observers were simply frozen in fear into what these events might translate. Against this backdrop decision of the National Security and Defense Council to stop trading was apparently initiated to show that President keeps the situation under control. Nevertheless, political players are already mobilized and infuriated with the attempts to use force. It does not look that official ban on trading will make everyone calm down.