SBU Present Document Purportedly Written By Surkov, Instructing Separatists On Talking Points

Ukraine's LIGABusinessInform reports that the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, has told reporters that the agency has intercepted a document drafted by Vladislav Surkov, a supremely influential aide to Vladimir Putin, directing the separatist leadership on their approach to the recent Minsk deal.

Nalyvaichenko said that the SBU now had a body of evidence that Surkov was organising political and military interference in Ukraine. He presented a document, a "circular" (one of many, he claimed) which had been distributed amongst the separatist leadership, authored he said, by Surkov.

The document contains recommended responses to Ukrainian moves or statements, in effect, talking points, like a PR firm advising a client. 

The first point on the memo indicates that the separatists should respond to a request by the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council to the UN, for peacekeepers to be deployed along the Russo-Ukrainian border in the Donbass, should be met by a statement from the 'Donetsk People's Republic's' representative, Denis Pushilin. 

The statement suggested by the author is that the Ukrainian request would be a violation of the Minsk agreement as Kiev is, according to the deal, only to re-assume control over it's south-eastern borders with Russia after holding local elections in separatist-held areas and conducting constitutional reform.

Point number two says that the separatists should respond to any Ukrainian accusations of ceasefire violations by listing Ukrainian violations in turn.

The third bullet point is extremely revealing, if the document is genuine, as to the power dynamic at play here.

The Interpreter translates:

Isn't it a pity that you're not paying attention. Find out from A why Basurin agreed with the introduction of peacekeepers?

Isn't it a pity that you're not paying attention!!!

Swiftly issue a rebuttal on his behalf. Immediately. Along the lines that his words were distorted and taken out of context. And then knock him on the head. 

The author is keen to stress that the separatists should not appear to oppose the idea of peacekeepers per se, but that the issue of border control cannot be discussed until prior points of the Minsk agreement are implemented.

Certainly, this is what one would expect of the 'grey cardinal,' Surkov, a former PR and advertising man turned architect of Vladimir Putin's 'managed democracy.'