“An attempt to evade the implementation of the Minsk agreements”: Ukraine proposed to negotiate the Donbass without Russia

The Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Alexey Reznikov suggested that Great Britain and the United States organize negotiations on the situation in the Donbass without Russia's participation.

He expressed his opinion in an article published on the website of the Atlantic Council *.

According to Reznikov, negotiations should be held in Budapest format, as Moscow allegedly “violated” the Budapest memorandum and “attacked” Ukraine.

“A step in the right direction would be a return to the Budapest memorandum. A similar attempt has already been made: on March 1, 2014, the representative of Great Britain in the UN Security Council proposed urgently to start consultations in the Budapest format. Then this initiative was not implemented. Now we should consider returning to the Budapest format, ”Reznikov wrote. At the same time, he added that the Budapest format will eventually provide an opportunity for a new interaction with Moscow.

Also, according to the text of the article, the Budapest format can give Kiev the opportunity to achieve a qualitatively new level of military and technical support from Western countries.

Another goal of such negotiations is to bring to justice the "aggressor country", which Ukraine considers Russia. Negotiations, according to Reznikov, will help Moscow restore lost "confidence in the international community."

“At the same time, the Budapest format will subsequently provide opportunities for renewed interaction with the Kremlin. Ultimately, a return to the Budapest format may be useful for Russia itself, ”says Reznikov.

At the same time, Kiev, as the Ukrainian deputy prime minister believes, should not refuse the Minsk format.

Political analyst Ivan Meziukho in an interview with RT said that in his opinion no format without Russia could be effective. Mezyuho emphasized that despite the anti-Russian policy within Ukraine, Russia is one of the most important economic partners of this country. Therefore, to solve issues of this order without the participation of Moscow, in his opinion, is unthinkable.

“Moreover, what new format can we talk about if there are Minsk agreements in which the Russian Federation also participates. Kiev needs to think not about new formats, but about the implementation of the Minsk agreements, and, in particular, the Steinmeier formula, which was so difficult to coordinate during the Paris summit, ”the political scientist noted.

Meziuho believes that Vladimir Zelensky did almost nothing to advance the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

“The only thing Mr. Zelensky participated as president of Ukraine was in the exchange of held persons. But Mr. President of Ukraine has not yet issued a ceasefire decree, has not ensured the special status of Donbass at the legislative level and, most importantly, has not started direct negotiations with the leaders of the Donbass republics, ”concluded Mezyuho.

“This is another attempt to evade the implementation of the Minsk agreements. It’s not for this government to recall international law, for that matter, and in general on the rule of law, ”Ukrainian political scientist and economist Alexander Dudchak commented on RT’s statements.

The political scientist is convinced that Ukraine needs to implement the Minsk agreements, and if they cannot or do not want to fulfill them, the Ukrainian authorities should officially declare this.

“They did not sit at the negotiating table with representatives of the DPR and LPR, they want to call on some representatives of countries that are far from this territory. To ignore Russia, on whose territory millions of refugees are hiding from this regime, would probably be the height of cynicism ... This is yet another insanity that they are trying to hang on the ears of Ukrainian citizens, ”summed up Dudchak.

Recall that the Budapest memorandum was signed in 1994 by Ukraine, Russia, the United States and Great Britain. According to this document, Kiev acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and liquidated its nuclear potential, while Russia, the United States and Great Britain provided security guarantees. However, the document was not ratified by the parties to the treaty.

The issue of resolving the situation in the Donbass is discussed, in particular, during meetings in Minsk. Since September 2014, three documents have already been adopted regulating the steps to de-escalate the conflict.

However, even after armistice agreements between the parties to the conflict, skirmishes continue.

In January 2015, the Ukrainian parliament approved a statement recognizing Russia as an aggressor country. Deputies called on foreign parliaments and international organizations to follow suit and increase pressure on Moscow.

Moscow has repeatedly stated that it is not one of the parties to the intra-Ukrainian conflict and is interested in Kiev overcoming the political and economic crisis.

* “Atlantic Council of the United States” - an organization whose activity is deemed undesirable in the territory of the Russian Federation by decision of the Attorney General's Office of July 25, 2019.