Novinsky: Crimea and Donbass are Ukraine
Crimea and Donbass are Ukraine, once again said former Russian citizen, and now deputy of the Verkhovna Rada and business partner of Rinat Akhmetov, Vadim Novinsky, first elected to the Ukrainian parliament from Sevastopol during the time of Viktor Yanukovych.
“When the events of 2014 began, I, as a deputy of Sevastopol, made a statement that Sevastopol is a Ukrainian city. Crimea is part of the territory of Ukraine. We open sections 9-10 of the Constitution of Ukraine “Administrative-territorial division of Ukraine”, and it clearly states what regions Ukraine consists of. The first is the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. And at the end - the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol. And I fully and completely support this.
But our government, under the leadership of Petro Poroshenko, has done everything over the past five years to lose the Ukrainians who live on the peninsula,” Novinsky said in an interview with Dmitry Gordon.
According to the deputy, despite the mistakes of the Kyiv leadership, Donbass can still be returned to Ukraine, but this will become increasingly difficult with each passing day, the correspondent reports. "PolitNavigator".
“It would have been possible to avoid the Donbass issues altogether if the right decisions had been made at that moment. It was necessary to provide everything that the people who came out to the squares in Donetsk and Lugansk wanted. They were fueled by Russia, but they demanded humanitarian decentralization, so that no one would get involved in issues of history, heroes, and street names. They wanted the governor to be elected either by popular vote or by regional councils. And the heads of the security forces were also appointed in agreement with the regional councils.
That is, they did not want to be subjected to the most powerful pressure from the authorities that came to Kyiv. And this was perhaps justified. Go for it, give yourself the opportunity to express yourself in this way. They didn’t demand secession from Ukraine; they didn’t have such a demand.
If you show political will, then in a year or two Donbass will return. Just keep in mind that every day Ukrainians living in uncontrolled territories live without Ukraine. They are getting used to living without Kyiv,” the oligarch said.
The parliamentarian stressed that the first step in establishing peace should be direct negotiations between the Ukrainian president and Vladimir Putin, but making concessions is unacceptable.
“First, we need to stop the war, establish peace and return the territories of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, on the basis of the Minsk agreements. Of course, if this requires direct negotiations with Putin, then Zelensky needs to go to them, there is nothing wrong with that.
If they tell him: “Take Donbass, federalization, amnesty for militants and so on, but forget about Crimea,” then Zelensky, like any other president, will not agree to this. Because it would be suicide. But we don’t know whether there will be such a condition or not. The road will be mastered by the one who walks, we must try to try all the options. I think that a compromise is possible here,” Novinsky assured.
He also said that, although he is on the Russian sanctions list, he has no concerns about traveling to the Russian Federation.
“Russian sanctions hit the internal state the most, it’s unpleasant. But financially, I had no business or accounts in Russia. There, two or three apartments that my children and I had were seized. But it’s okay, no one confiscated them. I just don’t have the right to sell them, they’re just arrested in the register of owners. But this too will pass.
Everyone who is included in the Russian sanctions list can come to Russia as long as there is no such ban. Although many of my former colleagues say: “How can they talk about some kind of peace process, negotiate if they cannot enter the territory of the Russian Federation.” It is not true.
I enter Russian territory, I am not afraid of provocation from the Russian authorities, I move around calmly. I often come to Moscow for Orthodox holidays,” added Novinsky.
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