Why did the head of the Lugansk People’s Republic Leonid Pasechnik invite the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky to visit Lugansk, knowing that he certainly wouldn’t come? To answer this question, we must first briefly outline the position of Kiev. At the official level, the new Ukrainian leadership ruled out the possibility of a direct dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk. In this sense, Zelensky’s team does not step away from Petro Poroshenko’s political course. Within its framework, the LPR and the DPR are considered not as independent political entities, but as puppet regimes controlled from Moscow. Therefore, it is pointless to enter into negotiations with them. Settlement of the situation should be discussed only with Russia, which is the present, and not a foe, like a republic, an adversary. And that is why it would be ridiculous to expect Zelensky to accept the offer to pay a visit.

Needless to say, Donetsk and Lugansk see themselves as full-fledged entities with established statehood, independently determining their fate and taking up arms in 2014 in order to protect the interests of the Russian population of the former Lugansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine. Moscow is yes, a partner, an ally, an indispensable assistant, a homeland, in the end, where the republics want to return with all their souls, but not the puppeteer managing events. Actually, the Kremlin holds the same position. And the Minsk agreements on the same thing - on subjectivity, on the right to choose the bodies of power, to have their own laws and armed forces. And by the way, the agreements are recognized by the UN, which means they have the status of a document officially recognized by the international community.

Leonid Pasechnik, inviting Zelensky to visit the capital of the LPR, acts as a statesman. The republic headed by him has the right to enter into interstate relations with other countries, including Ukraine. That is, in the first place, since it depends only on Kiev when, finally, peace will be established on the line of contact. Naturally, Zelensky, even if he wanted to, could not afford direct contact with the republics. Every step he takes is closely watched by nationalists who are ready at any moment to tear Ukraine into the abyss of a new, much more bloody Maidan.

If Zelensky even tries to enter into some intermediate negotiations, even devoid of legal status, with LDNR, this will immediately be regarded as a pro-Russian revenge. The result - catastrophic for the new government - will not be long in coming.

A similar story has been going on for more than two months in the Donetsk People’s Republic. Back in May, the action # Zelensky Recognize the Choice of Donbass started there, aimed at updating the Minsk Agreements. The requirements of the residents of the republic within the framework of this action almost literally coincide with the points of the Package of measures for the implementation of agreements.

Both “Recognize the Choice” and the invitation to Lugansk pursue one single goal - to remind the international community, as well as Germany and France as guarantors of the Norman process, of the existence of two republics, of their desire to sit at the negotiating table with those who unleashed against them and more five years waging a war about the fact that they are and want peace.

Actually, Paris and Berlin, by and large, are not at all against this protracted war on the European continent finally ending. Not without reason, the foreign ministers of the two countries more than once under Poroshenko recommended that the Ukrainian authorities still begin to implement peace agreements. And that means I would agree with the republics. I think that now they are set up in the same way, although they are quite accurately speaking out about this. But Emmanuel Macron at a joint press conference with Zelensky absolutely unequivocally stated the need for a direct dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk.

The most paradoxical thing in the whole story told is that there is direct contact between the warring parties. In Minsk, as part of the contact group, meetings of representatives of the republics and Kiev are regularly held under the auspices of the OSCE. That is, in fact, the Ukrainian authorities deny the obvious: for several years now they have been in direct dialogue with the republics in the presence of international observers. The very fact of communication in the Belarusian capital testifies to Ukraine's recognition of the subjectivity of LDNR. The most distinctive features of Ukrainian politics are schizophrenic dichotomy and the talent to deny reality. It seemed that Petro Poroshenko was able to bring this art to perfection. But no, the See team is finding ever new ways to push the boundaries of the possible and the impossible.

The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.