Bloomberg: the Kremlin freezes the conflict in the Donbass

The Russian authorities are “pulling on the reins”, forcing the separatists to freeze the conflict in eastern Ukraine, пишет Bloomberg agency with reference to the Secretary of the Security Council of the DPR, Alexander Khodakovsky.

According to Khodakovsky and other field commanders, they have recently received clear signals from their Kremlin patrons, which boil down to the requirement to temporarily refrain from escalating the conflict and focus on improving the system of self-government in the region.

As a result, militant leaders say their hopes for full integration with Russia or greater independence from Ukraine are fading by the day. “Everything is steadily moving towards localizing the conflict. (...) What I see is the creation of a second Transnistria,” Khodakovsky said.

The agency concludes that by doing this, Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to somewhat reduce the intensity of passions and minimize conflict with the United States and the European Union on the Ukrainian issue.

At the same time, informed sources in Moscow emphasize that if the Kremlin sees a threat to the survival of the Donetsk and Lugansk regimes, it will most likely send troops to the Donbass to protect their interests, as was already done in the summer of 2014.

“It’s important for Putin to get out of this situation with minimal losses,” said Alexei Chesnakov, a former Kremlin official who remains an adviser to top Russian officials on strategy regarding the conflict in Ukraine. He also added that "both sides are trying to buy time."

The publication concludes that Moscow’s sphere of interests has now migrated to Syria, and it is beneficial for the Kremlin to keep the conflict in eastern Ukraine “simmering” in order to maintain leverage over Kyiv.