Ukraine supports the creation of a "resuscitation fund" for the restoration of Donbass. This was stated by the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), the first president of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk on the air of the Ukraine 24 TV channel.

“If we discuss this and submit it in a broad sense, through diplomatic efforts of all together, and Russia will support ... I want the Donbass resuscitation fund - people will immediately start taking on something concrete,” Kravchuk said.

He claims that Kiev has the right to demand the creation of such a structure on the basis of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, according to which the Ukrainian side renounced nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, the United States of America and Great Britain.

“Ukraine then laid down its nuclear weapons, 175 missiles. Each missile had five warheads, in total - more than 1000. Each mine cost a billion dollars, those dollars are now about 300 billion. And this step of Ukraine was very important for reducing the nuclear arsenals and the cost of nuclear arsenals of those nuclear states, which exist today, ”said the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG.

In addition, the politician believes that without the participation of the United States in the process of establishing peace in Donbass, it will be "very difficult" to resolve the conflict. According to him, in the future, Washington could have "the greatest influence" in these negotiations.

In addition, Kravchuk proposed to create a free economic zone in Donbass.

“When I was president, we created a free economic zone, which included Donetsk, Lugansk, Dnepropetrovsk regions. Then they forgot about it. I think now this should be done in the same way - not only in controlled territories, but in all areas. And when people get down to specific things, investments will go there. And there will be no need to talk about any special status of Donbass, ”the first Ukrainian president said.

At the same time, Kravchuk said that the essence of the special status that the territories in the southeast of the country should receive is not entirely clear to the Ukrainian side: “They (the authorities of the self-proclaimed republics) want this to be a territory with signs of not only some special management status, and that it was a territory with signs of statehood. That is, they take very high. Russia is still talking about a special status, as written in the Minsk documents. But they wrote down there so that we ourselves do not know what it is. "

  • Head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group, the first President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk
  • Reuters
  • © Gleb Garanich

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova reacted to Kravchuk's statement. According to her, such statements about the lack of understanding of the points of the Minsk agreements suggest the need for internal Ukrainian consultations on this issue.

“Maybe they will not convene endless international summits, but finally hold one internal Ukrainian one? Gather four of us (Kravchuk, Kuchma, Poroshenko, Zelensky) and try to understand what is written in the Minsk agreements? " - wrote Zakharova on her Facebook page.

"Sabotaging the agreements"

Recall that on July 30, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree appointing Leonid Kravchuk to the post of head of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG. As noted by the press service of the presidential office, the politician "has the experience necessary to participate in the negotiation process of this level." Kravchuk, in turn, assured that in his post he will do everything possible to achieve peace in Donbass.

Experts point out that there is nothing fundamentally new in Kravchuk's statements. In particular, the topic of the so-called Budapest format was raised in Ukraine more than once. At the beginning of June, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksiy Reznikov proposed to "return" to him in his article, which was published on the website of the American analytical center "Atlantic Council" *. At the same time, according to Reznikov's plan, at first Moscow should not take part in the new negotiating process, but it may receive such a right after Kiev's consultations with Washington and London.

This initiative was called in Moscow an attempt "to break the Minsk, and at the same time, possibly, the Normandy formats, replacing them with an alternative platform without Donetsk and Lugansk."

“This is such a fix idea for the Kiev authorities. Bury the Minsk Agreements, start everything from scratch - this is apparently how this task was formulated in Kiev, ”Maria Zakharova said at the briefing.

The diplomat stressed that the Budapest Memorandum "has nothing to do with the internal Ukrainian conflict in Donbass."

According to Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, Kravchuk's statements indicate that Ukraine does not intend to fulfill the Minsk agreements.

“Under Poroshenko, this refusal was factual, and formally the president constantly said that Ukraine supports the Minsk agreements, and Russia violates them. Under Zelensky, Kiev openly declares that it is not satisfied with Minsk, ”Shapovalov said in a conversation with RT.

  • A woman at a destroyed house in the village of Sakhanka, located in the south of the DPR on the line of contact
  • RIA News
  • © Valery Melnikov

At the same time, the proposal to create a so-called resuscitation fund for the restoration of Donbass is another initiative from Kiev, which has nothing to do with the real process of resolving the situation in Donbass, says Shapovalov. In his opinion, negotiations on the settlement of the intra-Ukrainian conflict have come to a standstill largely because of such tactics of the Ukrainian side.

“Ukraine is sabotaging the agreements and in a situation of complete impasse is trying to create the appearance of active actions, throwing completely ridiculous initiatives into the information space. It is quite possible that within the framework of the idea of ​​forming a "resuscitation fund" Ukraine will demand from other countries, including Russia, funds that Kiev will allegedly spend on the restoration of Donbass. However, this is just information noise that has no meaning, because the world community is well aware that no matter what money is allocated to the Ukrainian side, it will certainly be swallowed up by a corruption machine, ”Shapovalov argues.

At the same time, the expert called Kravchuk's proposal to create a free economic zone in Donbass "demagoguery".

“What economic activity can we talk about in the frontline territory? Which entrepreneurs will put their money where the fighting is going? In any case, Kiev first needs to stop hostilities, and for this it is necessary to comply with the terms of the Minsk agreements, ”says Shapovalov.

"Strengthen the negotiating position"

Meanwhile, commenting on Kravchuk's idea of ​​the United States joining the negotiations on Donbass, experts recalled that it had already been heard more than once by Kiev.

So, at the end of July, in an interview with the Ukrainian Internet portal Novoye Vremya, Aleksey Reznikov said that he would like to involve the United States and Great Britain in this dialogue. Referring to the Budapest Memorandum, he stressed that these countries that signed this document, "as serious players on the international platform" and "strategic partners" of Kiev, could "help Ukraine restore territorial integrity and sovereignty." According to Reznikov, it is necessary to create a new platform for negotiations.

Earlier, in February, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also “expressed interest in more actively engaging” the United States in negotiations on a peaceful settlement in Donbass, as reported on his official website.

According to Vladimir Shapovalov, Kiev's calls to involve Washington in the negotiations are not surprising: this would help Ukraine "strengthen its negotiating position."

“Ukrainian political elites believe that the United States could put pressure on Russia as part of the negotiation process. However, the White House is not interested in this. The United States has repeatedly signaled that it does not want to take on the role of mediator in resolving this conflict, ”the analyst said.

RANEPA teacher Sergei Margulis, in turn, believes that "in the short term, significant changes in the negotiation process on Donbass should not be expected."

“I would very much like to hope that the ceasefire regime will still be preserved. But now there are no political prerequisites for any radical changes. The frozen conflict regime will continue to be in force, "the expert predicted in an interview with RT.

* "Atlantic Council" (Atlantic Council of the United States ) - an organization whose activities are recognized as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation by the decision of the General Prosecutor's Office of 25.07.2019.