Lavrov confirmed that Moscow is not seeking “federalization” of Ukraine
Moscow – Kyiv, December 25 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Shtamm) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed in an interview with Kommersant that Russia is not imposing any specific terminology on Ukraine – "whether it will be called a federation, decentralization, or something else." The main thing, Lavrov believes, is "how issues of language, culture, and history will be handled, how taxes will be distributed, how regional leaders will be elected, what their relations with the center will be, and, finally, what holidays will be celebrated." Attempts to "sweep basic issues under the rug" will only exacerbate the country's problems, the minister believes.
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When asked by the publication to comment on its contradictory statements that Russia “does not propose federalization or autonomy” for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and that political forces in Ukraine should “agree on a federation within which each region will have broad powers” , Lavrov replied that terms are not important for Russia:
“In an interview with France 24, I said that we are not at all imposing any specific term on Ukraine - will it be called federation, decentralization.” We do not care. Remember, as in the joke about a taxi: the main thing is that the car moves, not the checkers.”
“In order for the car to move, we need to sit down and agree on how issues of language, culture, history will be arranged, how taxes will be distributed, regional leaders will be elected, what kind of relations they will have with the center, and, ultimately, what holidays to celebrate. I have already said that it is impossible to imagine that the birthdays of Shukhevych and Bandera would be celebrated in the southeast of Ukraine. Just as we now understand that in western Ukraine, May 9 is not viewed in the historical colors that we and the vast majority of residents of southeastern Ukraine are accustomed to,” says Lavrov.
“Attempts to “sweep” basic things “under the rug” and get away with creating some kind of cell committee in the Verkhovna Rada (as the coalition agreement suggests), in which various pressure groups, oligarchs and politicians will agree on some parameters of the constitutional structure that suit them, only will drive the problem deeper,” Lavrov is convinced. “An open, transparent, inclusive – as was written in the Geneva Statement back in April – constitutional reform with the participation of all regions and political forces is needed.”
Lavrov confirmed that Moscow is not seeking the "federalization" of Ukraine.