President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, commenting on the meeting of the advisers of the heads of state of the “Norman Four” in Berlin, said that no one can demand from Kiev the adoption of a law on the special status of Donbass. So he reacted to the question of Ukrainian journalists. They asked if German media reports that Moscow allegedly put forward a demand for such a law before July 6 are reliable.

“Firstly, no one can demand anything from Ukraine, we are an independent country. It seems to me that here everyone needs to work on rhetoric. Moreover, this is international rhetoric already, ”Zelensky said.

On July 3, the Spiegel newspaper, citing a “unofficial working document” of the Russian delegation that participated in the negotiations in Berlin, reported that it allegedly referred to an advanced condition for a draft amendment to the Ukrainian constitution on decentralization, as well as progress in working on the Steinmeier formula.

At the same time, Vladimir Zelensky did not comment on the results of the meeting of advisers to the heads of state of the “Norman Four”.

“I know that the meeting went very well, in detail. There is nothing more to comment so far, ”said the President of Ukraine.

"Demonstrated bewilderment"

Note that earlier the deputy head of the presidential administration Dmitry Kozak, who headed the Russian delegation, after a meeting in Berlin, said that the parties were close to agreeing on a set of measures to end hostilities in the Donbass, but did not achieve a breakthrough.

“I don’t dare say that there is a breakthrough,” Kozak said following talks that lasted more than 10 hours.

  • Deputy Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak
  • RIA News
  • © Ekaterina Shtukina

It is assumed that the final document following the meeting will be adopted later, during telephone conversations, "because it could not be agreed in detail."

Kozak also noted that it was premature to talk about agreeing a Norman summit.

“There was no talk of a meeting at the ministerial level. There were attempts to determine specific dates in the Norman format, but it’s very, very early to talk about it, because it is necessary to fully implement ... primarily from Ukraine, the decisions that were adopted at the December 9 summit, ”he stressed.

At the same time, the Russian politician confirmed that Moscow really expects the Ukrainian side to draft amendments to the fundamental law, establishing the special status of Donbass in accordance with the Steinmeier formula. At the same time, Kozak denied the date that appeared in the publication Spiegel.

“Not by July 6, but in the near future. Today it was not possible to get a clear, distinct answer from Ukraine when this document will be prepared, amendments to the constitution regarding decentralization ... Nobody has seen this decentralization yet - neither Ukrainian citizens, nor residents of Donbass. And what we are talking about, we don’t understand, nobody understands, ”Kozak concluded.

Commenting on Zelensky’s statement following the meeting in Berlin, experts state that the Ukrainian leader is trying to blur the time frame on which the process of resolving the conflict in the Donbass should be oriented.

“Zelensky in this case showed bewilderment in response to the assumption that certain red lines could be delivered to Ukraine, so that Kiev could either fulfill the terms of the Minsk Agreements by a certain deadline or sign that it was he who was responsible for the failure to fulfill his obligations . The Ukrainian leadership found itself in a rather difficult situation, therefore Zelensky is trying in such a not-so-professional way to get out of this situation, ”Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries, said in a conversation with RT.

The head of the Center for System Analysis and Forecasting Rostislav Ishchenko, in turn, believes that the Ukrainian president makes statements of this kind largely due to a lack of political experience.

“Ever since the emergence of international relations, states have obeyed certain rules. They were different, they changed, but they obeyed. Including Ukraine must comply with international obligations. And from Zelensky’s words it follows that, since Ukraine is a sovereign country, it does what it wants. This, of course, is also a position, but it has not brought anyone to good, ”said the expert.

"State position"

Recall that the Norman format of negotiations on Ukraine was created in June 2014. Then, during the events dedicated to the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany held talks to resolve the conflict in the Donbass.

After this meeting and telephone conversations were held at the level of both the heads of state of the Quartet and the foreign ministers of the participating countries.

Since 2015, almost all meetings of the “four” have been devoted to the implementation of the Minsk agreements. However, soon the Ukrainian authorities virtually froze their implementation, which made holding new meetings pointless. The latest summit of the Heads of State of the “Norman Four” in full force took place in October 2016 in Germany.

The format was revived only at the end of last year, when Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Zelensky, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron met in Paris.

Moscow has repeatedly pointed out that the implementation of the Minsk Agreements is the only way to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and also drew the attention of the participants in the dialogue that Kiev sabotaged the agreements.

According to Rostislav Ishchenko, the fact that Vladimir Zelensky, like his predecessor, evades real steps to implement the Minsk agreements, is not surprising.

“Zelensky’s administration avoids this simply because it is the state position of Ukraine, and it doesn’t matter who occupies the presidency. Poroshenko signed the Minsk agreements not to implement them, but to stop the attack. Since then, this position has not changed. Anyone can be elected a leader, but this position is unchanged, ”the political scientist explained.

Vladimir Zharikhin adheres to a similar point of view.

“You need to understand that Zelensky in this case is not the side that makes decisions. This situation of “neither peace nor war”, the smoldering conflict that divides Russia and the countries of Western Europe, is most beneficial for the United States, therefore the Ukrainian leader receives orders to sabotage the implementation of the Minsk agreements in any way, ”the expert concluded.