US conspicuous by its absence at Minsk talks on Ukraine conflict
Ceasefire agreement brokered by Germany and France sees Washington sidelined as Ukraine conflict becomes a matter for Europe to resolve
Washington rarely shies away from seeking to wield its power in a world crisis, but in the tense negotiations that secured Ukraine's ceasefire it played an oddly behind-the-scenes role.
While US officials insist that from the get-go the Obama administration has been in lockstep with its European allies - and that's certainly true when it comes to the US and EU sanctions slapped on Russia - it's clear the diplomatic drive that sealed Thursday's accord came from Berlin and Paris.
It was German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande who took on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko during a 17-hour negotiating marathon in Belarus. No US observers or negotiators were present.
"It would have actually been quite useful even if the EU was at the negotiation table. The absence of the Americans and the EU is actually quite startling and quite shocking," said Judy Dempsey a senior associate with the Carnegie Europe think tank.
Meanwhile, Washington is stressing sanctions will not be eased until all points of the deal - including the ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons and a closure of the Russian-Ukrainian border - are implemented.
Any more weapons transfers or violation of the deal "would cause us and our partners to have to impose more costs," warned the US official. Washington is now working to shore up the roadmap aimed at ending the 10-month war between Ukraine and pro-Moscow rebels, perhaps by supplying more monitors, along with drones and sensors, to enforce implementation.
Timing however, as with everything in the world of high-stakes diplomacy, is key.
Some observers point to the fact that after months of stalemate as fighting worsened on the ground, diplomatic moves gained impetus as calls to send US heavy weapons to the embattled Ukrainian military gained some traction in Washington.
The threat of more weapons being poured into the conflict could have alarmed both the anxious Europeans and Putin, who, according to Western officials, sent a nine-page peace plan in Russian to Merkel and Hollande a day before top US diplomat John Kerry left on February 4 for a high-profile visit to Kiev.
Landing in Kiev, Kerry found himself trumped by the arrival just a few hours later of Merkel and Hollande. And thus began the intense negotiations that culminated in Thursday's deal.
On the sidelines of the Munich security conference, Kerry and US Vice-President Joe Biden held back-to-back meetings with European, Russian and Ukrainian leaders on the crisis. Merkel then flew to Washington for pre-scheduled talks to consult with US President Barack Obama.
"Obama delegated this to her, he didn't want anything to do with Ukraine … He wanted it off his agenda," said Dempsey.
The fighting continued yesterday despite the agreement, which does not officially go into effect until midnight Ukraine time on Sunday, as 18 people were killed in eastern Ukraine in new artillery shelling. Pro-Moscow rebels and government officials said that seven civilians were killed across the conflict zone during, while Ukraine's military said 11 soldiers lost their lives.
The ceasefire requires both sides to begin pulling back heavy weaponry from along the frontline no later than two days after its starting time.
