Foreign media digest 23-24 August 2014

THE PASSAGE OF DISGRACE FOR UKRAINIAN CAPTIVES.
The President of the French branch or the human rights organization Amnesty International Genevieve Garrigos in an interview to RFI condemned the public humiliation of Ukrainian prisoners in Donets, noting that from the standpoint of international law, the actions of separatists against military men are “war crime”.
RFI:
«Today, however, we saw they were forced to go under the insults of the crowd, she points out. Moreover, a various objects were being thrown at them”. According to Genevieve Garrigos’ words, “in this case, we can say that it is a “war crime” from the standpoint of the international law. “It is obvious that in this conflict the concept of the international rule is violated and does not take into account, ” she underlines.
www.russian.rfi.fr

ANGELA MERKEL’S KYIV VISIT:

The decision in Ukrainian crisis should not damage Russia.
Deutsche Welle:
Merkel also stresses Ukrainians should decide about the further country’s development path. According to her words, if Ukraine says we are going to the Eurasian Union now, the European Union would never make a “big conflict” out of it, but would insist on a voluntary decision AFP informs. At the same time she said the territorial integrity of Ukraine is “essential”. The German Chancellor also reiterated that Ukrainian membership in NATO isn’t on the agenda. Merkel, however, said NATO could provide Ukraine with “some cooperation”.
www.dw.de

Süddeutsche Zeitung:
“In Kyiv Angela Merkel did not say harsh words about Russia, she said about solidarity with Ukraine, but did not sow discord towards Russia. She understood how important is a “words’ dismantlement”.
Staubinger Tagblatt/Landshuter Zeitung:
“The moment needs de-escalation. Merkel as a mediator has made her contribution to the process – more than other western politicians. Now it’s Putin’s and Poroshenko’s turn in Minsk.
Weser-Kurier
“We can’t achieve peace all along,” Merkel said in Kyiv alluding new sanctions are not the main consideration at the moment. With the help of this wise tactics she creates a path for de-escalation before the important meeting between Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Then the EU countries should press on Moscow using diplomatic instruments to stop supplying separatists in eastern Ukraine with weapons and finance. In response Ukraine should bolster decentralization.
Münchner Merkur comments:
“Chancellor is not only “a powerful Ukraine’s attorney”, as Poroshenko thinks, but also Europe’s lawyer. It hasn’t been ever cleared as during her visits to Ukraine (on Saturday) and to Spain (on Sunday). They are resulted in creation of “Merkel plan”. It means that Europe will try to be united and Berlin won’t seek for individual agreements with Russia behind its neighbors’ backs. .
Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz writes:
The West should make it clear: Ukrainian membership in NATO and EU is not on the agenda. To tell the truth is lawyer’s duty.
www.dw.de

TALKS IN MINSK.
The human cost could be high, but it would give President Petro Poroshenko a battlefield victory without making concessions to Moscow.
Economist assumes the war is reaching a crunch point. In this context the newspaper looks at a humanitarian mission from Russia. The edition says the situation with Moscow’s humanitarian convoy is thus not a piece of a larger, thought-through play, but a gambit a way for Mr Putin to regain the initiative in the crisis and to shift the conversation from questions over who shot down the Malaysia Airlines jet in July to the genuinely awful humanitarian situation in the east. For Mr Putin, Ukraine needs to stay fractured and destabilised: just how this happens is less important. As Igor Korotchenko, editor of a defence magazine who is close to the Russian defence ministry, puts it, “Ukraine can be an enemy state, but it can’t be a strong one,” the Economist sums up.
www.economist.com

Many residents of Donbas do not have trust in Ukrainian army.
Financial Times
The edition writes according to the UN report, 285,000 people have fled their homes in Ukraine because of the conflict, with 114,000 staying in Ukraine and 168,000 going across over the border. Many of them have fled to Russia. While many residents of Donetsk and Lugansk began the conflict as impartial bystanders, the intensifying violence has put them in the way of shellfire in their residential neighbourhoods. Many refugees say they won’t return to their homes when military operations are over.
www.ft.com

NATO SUMMIN IN WALES.
Poland and Baltic countries with the U.S. help stands for bringing the future missile shield against Russia.
Der Spiegel:
www.spiegel.de