PRESS RELEASE

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NATO Threatens Donbass

Aug. 20, 2015 (EIRNS)—NATO issued a statement yesterday, warning the two break-away republics in southwestern Ukraine not take any more territory. The statement, posted on the NATO website, said that the allies "stressed the need for all parties to de-escalate tensions and exercise restraint," and that they "underlined that the focus must be on pursuing a solution through diplomatic means," adding that the Minsk agreement is the road to peace. "Russia has a special responsibility to find a political solution," they said.

"Any attempt by the Russian-backed separatists to take over more of Ukraine’s territory would be unacceptable to the international community."

The statement did not say what NATO would do if, say, the militias of the two republics moved to stop the incessant artillery bombardment of the populated areas of Donetsk and Gorlovka by pushing the line of engagement further to the west. This is how the last round of warfare, which ended with the Minsk 2 agreement, began. The NATO statement, however, does bring to mind a similar statement which then-NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen issued on Feb. 19, 2014, warning Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych not to use violence against the protestors in the Maidan. "I strongly urge the Ukrainian government to refrain from further violence," Rasmussen said at that time. "If the military intervenes against the opposition, Ukraine’s ties with NATO will be seriously damaged." He was speaking for Obama and his witch Victoria Nuland. Within two days, Yanukovych was fleeing the country and the neo-Nazi dominated parties were seizing power in Kiev.