Russian Foreign Minister: Many Want The Ukraine Peace Deal To Fail

Military trucks from the Ukrainian armed forces transport tanks on the road near Artemivsk, eastern Ukraine, February 24, 2015. Credit: Reuters/Gleb Garanich

Reuters: Russia says many in Kiev want Ukraine peace deal to fail

(Reuters) - Russia is concerned that many people in Kiev and outside Ukraine want a peace deal in the east of the country to fail, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

Lavrov also called for the OSCE security watchdog to observe the withdrawal of heavy weapons in eastern Ukraine under the Feb. 12 peace deal agreed in the Belarussian capital Minsk.

Pro-Russian separatists say they have begun the withdrawal but Kiev says its forces will not do so until fighting stops and that the rebels are using the cover of the truce to reinforce for another advance.

WNU Editor: The German and French leadership picked up this pro-war sentiment a few weeks ago ... hence the push on their part for this peace deal. Poland, the Baltics, U.K., Canada .... they have definitely adopted a provocative stance .... and to put it bluntly they have not been helpful in the peace process. As for the U.S. .... I find the government and the public split on this issue. Many in the Pentagon and in Congress want to raise the level of tensions a notch .... but the White House has refrained from making the decisions that would accomplish this ... and while they are using "tough language" .... their actions have been less.