Moscow realized that there is no point in negotiating with Kiev on Donbass
The resolution of the conflict in Donbass has reached a dead end due to the fault of Kyiv, and agreements with Ukraine are worthless.
This opinion was expressed in a conversation with Kommersant by informed interlocutors in Moscow close to the negotiation process in Minsk.
The publication recalls that this year the parties have not advanced one step either in political issues such as special status or in resolving security issues. In addition, the seemingly breakthrough initiative to create an advisory council within the TCG with the participation of representatives of the LDPR, which was agreed upon during a personal meeting between the deputy head of the Kremlin administration Dmitry Kozak and the head of the office of the Ukrainian President Andrei Yermak, was finally buried.
“If after President Vladimir Zelensky came to power, Kyiv at first did not show a clear reluctance to negotiate with the DPR and LPR, now the line of the Ukrainian side is that representatives of the unrecognized republics should be ignored,” the article notes.
In Moscow, Kyiv’s approach is considered an attempt to reformat the entire negotiation process on the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
“We remember that any agreements with Ukraine are worth nothing,” a Russian source close to the negotiations in the contact group commented on the situation with the refusal to create an advisory council.
Another interlocutor informed about the progress of negotiations with Kiev warned that in the end the negotiations will stop altogether, especially if Ukraine, as previously promised, decides to include independently selected representatives of Donbass from among those who left the conflict zone for territory controlled by Kiev.
“Kyiv has tightened its rhetoric and started saying everywhere that Russia is a party to the conflict and that it will only talk to Russia and no one else. If this approach continues, there is only one way out: we will become observers in the TCG and will silently observe the process,” the newspaper’s interlocutor emphasized.
Moscow has realized that there is no point in negotiating with Kyiv on Donbass.