Unpopular position: why the representative of Ukraine in the TCG said there was no evidence of a war with Russia in the Donbass

The deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, Vitold Fokin, during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada on state construction, said that he did not see evidence that a war was going on in Donbass between Russia and Ukraine.

"I am not a politician ... I have not yet seen any confirmation that there is a war between Ukraine and Russia," he said.

At the same time, according to Fokin, mercenaries from almost 30 countries of the world are fighting against Ukraine in the region, "including with the support of the Russian Federation."

The representative of Kiev in the TCG was summoned to a meeting of the Rada committee to clarify his recent statement on amnesty and the special status of Donbass.

Earlier, during a speech in parliament, Fokin said that the amnesty should be general, and Petro Poroshenko bears responsibility for the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian media note that he had already voiced such a position in an interview before, and also expressed his readiness to go to Donbass for negotiations, if an appropriate order of the president or parliament of the country arrives.

Vitold Fokin - the first prime minister of independent Ukraine (1991-1992).

On August 18, Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed him deputy Leonid Kravchuk, who heads the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG for the peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbass.

Opposition criticism

This statement by Fokin did not go unnoticed by the Ukrainian parliamentarians.

Thus, the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from Petro Poroshenko's party "European Solidarity" Aleksey Goncharenko accused Fokin of repeating "one to one theses of Russian propaganda", and his statements can be equated with sabotage.

The deputy added that if Fokin continues to meet in the contact group, this will mean support for his statements from Zelensky.

In turn, the Golos faction prepared a parliamentary request to Zelensky demanding that Fokine be removed from office.

This was announced by the author of the initiative Solomiya Bobrovskaya.

• Vitold Fokin before the meeting of the Rada committee

• globallookpress.com

• © Hennadii Minchenko / Keystone Press Agency

The request also mentions another statement by Fokine, in which the ex-prime minister called those fighting for the self-proclaimed republics "rebels", which contradicts the official position of Kiev.

"Before his introduction into the TCG, Fokin's public statements also had anti-Ukrainian content and contradicted the official position of Ukraine regarding the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine, in particular, the illegal annexation of the ARC Crimea and the city of Sevastopol," Interfax cites an excerpt from the Golos party request. -Ukraine.

As noted by an RT source in the Batkivshchyna party, Fokin's statements indicate that there is no consensus in Zelensky's team on resolving the conflict in Donbass.

“Obviously, Zelensky’s entourage does not have a consensus on how to end military operations in Donbass.

At the same time, the rating of the president and his party may suffer from Fokin's statement, ”the deputy said.

In turn, the interlocutor of RT in the Servant of the People party positively assessed the statements of the deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG.

“Fokin has a clear understanding of how to really stop the war in Donbass.

And he is not afraid to speak the truth.

I think that no one has any doubts that the hostilities cannot be stopped by accusations against Russia.

I think that the nationalists will not forgive Fokin for such statements and will demand that Zelensky fire him, ”said the interlocutor of RT.

At the same time, according to the deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries Vladimir Zharikhin, “Fokin’s position should not be considered as corresponding to the Russian one”.

Over the past several years, high-ranking Ukrainian officials have regularly made statements that Russian regular troops are allegedly taking part in hostilities in the east of the country.

Moscow, in turn, consistently declares that the war in Donbass is an internal conflict and Russia is not a party to it.

• Withdrawal of the forces of the fighters of the LPR units in the village of Zolote in the Luhansk region

• RIA News

Russia has also repeatedly drawn the attention of Western countries to the fact that Kiev is moving away from fulfilling its part of the Minsk agreements, which spell out mechanisms for resolving the military conflict in Donbass.

However, as experts remind, Fokin is not the first to talk about the absence of Russian troops in the Donbass.

So, back in July 2017, the Deputy Minister for the Affairs of the Uncontrolled Territories of Ukraine, Georgy Tuka, said that official Kiev has no legal evidence of the presence of Russian army units in the region.

“We cannot yet, despite all our efforts, legally prove the presence of a regular Russian army in Donbass,” Tuka said.

A similar statement was made in 2019 by the head of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Erturul Apakan, in response to a request from Vasily Nebenzi, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN.

Apakan stated that in the reports of the monitoring mission there is no data on the presence of the Russian military on the territory of Ukraine.

"Became an accomplice in crimes"

According to Vladimir Zharikhin, the position voiced by Fokin has already led to the fact that representatives of the parties of Petro Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, who called him a traitor, took up arms against him.

“Fokine is already experiencing psychological pressure.

But he is a strong man and an experienced politician, so it is not easy to move him, ”he said.

A RT source in the Golos party adheres to a similar point of view.

“The parliament is unhappy with the statements of Fokin, who is supported by the head of the presidential office, Andrei Yermak.

In the West, his position has already been dubbed as pro-Russian, and his American partners are also unhappy.

Therefore, I think that in these conditions Zelensky simply will not dare to take the real steps voiced by Fokin.

Unfortunately, the chances for peace are illusory, "the source said.

In turn, political scientist and economist Alexander Dudchak noted that the words of the representative of Kiev in the TCG on the situation in the Donbass largely reflect the real picture.

“Fokin correctly indicated that there is no war between Ukraine and Russia, since the Ukrainian government is fighting against those whom it considers its people.

But he is not right about the mercenaries, because at the beginning of the conflict volunteers came, who, seeing the injustice, came to the aid of relatives and fellow believers, ”the expert noted.

According to the political scientist, such statements by Fokine will not go unnoticed by radicals.

“It is beneficial for the Ukrainian authorities to support the line that Russia is an active party to the conflict in Donbass, if only because Kiev in no way can end this war.

Zelensky had the opportunity to end the conflict last year, but he himself got involved in the war, became an accomplice in crimes, so he is unlikely to take the measures proposed by Fokin to end the war, ”the expert concluded.