Will Volodymyr Zelenskiy be able to again participate in the Normandy format summit with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany in the near future? The President of Ukraine himself would definitely like this event to take place as soon as possible. The showman, who became the head of state, remained a showman at heart. Zelenskiy loves to participate in ceremonial political events, during which he can demonstrate his simplicity, his closeness to the people, his ability to communicate on equal terms with recognized leaders of world politics. But this is the problem of the President of Ukraine. The outer ceremonial shell is not at all the main thing for summits. The main thing at such events is their content. But in this regard, Zelensky is not at all ready for a new summit in the Normandy format.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, I heard the following "witty joke" about Ukrainian political morals. Reaching the final agreement means for the Kiev servants of the people that now they can immediately forget about this agreement and begin negotiations on concluding a new deal - more advantageous for themselves. They say that in every joke there is only a fraction of a joke. But the distinguishing feature of the "joke" that I just quoted is that in it this share is at best 0.1%. The Ukrainian political elite is distinguished by a very relaxed attitude towards their own reputation and their own words. If people from this environment promise something, then they fulfill even the most solemn oath only in two cases: a) they have no other choice; b) it meets their own selfish political interests.
During the last Ukrainian presidential campaign, Zelenskiy tried in every way to oppose himself to the old Ukrainian political elite. Like, I'm not like them! I am a politician from a fundamentally new generation with fundamentally new values! But in the end, the Ukrainian people "bought" the same stale and boring product in new bright packaging. Petro Poroshenko, who signed the Minsk agreements, fulfilled them according to the principle: to promise everything - do nothing. Volodymyr Zelensky goes exactly the same road.
"Many hours of fruitless negotiations often resemble the theater of the absurd" - so the deputy head of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation Dmitry Kozak recently described his impressions of communicating with Ukrainian colleagues. I dare to suggest that the "theater of the absurd" is far from accidental. Official Kiev deliberately negotiates for the sake of negotiations, deliberately seeks to confuse everyone, deliberately wasting his own and others' time.
The real goal of Poroshenko - Zelensky (in terms of foreign policy, it is quite appropriate to place these two worst domestic political enemies in one bundle) is to completely destroy the Minsk agreements.
But Kiev also does not want to openly take responsibility for such a "feat". The ideal option for the Ukrainian elite would be the situation if the Minsk agreements collapsed through the fault of Russia. Therefore, the negotiators from Zelensky's side are purposefully trying to "blow the brains" of their colleagues from Moscow, provoke them to emotional statements and ill-considered drastic political steps. The task of Russian diplomacy is not to succumb to these insidious, but at the same time quite naive tricks. If the Minsk agreements are destined to "die an inglorious death", then let the true culprits of this sad situation be responsible for this.
Of course, Zelensky and his team are not at all tempted by such a prospect. That is why official Kiev has relied on the endless theater of the absurd. By and large, Zelenskiy simply has no other choice. The problem for the Ukrainian president is not only that he does not want to fulfill the Minsk agreements. An equally important part of Zelenskiy's problem is that he simply cannot do it.
Imagine that after the inglorious end of his presidential career, Vladimir Alexandrovich will return to acting. And now he will be assigned to play the role of the world luminary in the field of neurosurgery. Will Zelensky be able to do this? Of course he can! Everyone is moved, watching how our hero will save even the most hopeless patients in the operating room, practically pull them out of the other world. But does this mean that Zelensky will actually become a neurosurgeon, that he can be handed a scalpel and sent to the operating room to the real patients? All these questions can be answered with the same phrase: of course not!
I apologize in advance if my assessment sounds too harsh, but the president from Volodymyr Zelensky is about the same as a neurosurgeon. The subordinates of the formal head of the Ukrainian state feel that their boss, due to the lack of experience and professional knowledge, is not capable of leading anything, and therefore they are playing their own game. And Zelensky can only pretend that everything is fine and dream of new colorful political shows like the Normandy format summit. Of course, I would like this dream to come true. But for this, official Kiev needs to radically change its habits, its political strategy. Until that happens, dreams of the summit will remain dreams.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.