The usually reserved Lavrov reprimanded Kravchuk for “a whim and a foolishness”
The usually reserved Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not hide his irritation today when commenting on the latest statement by the head of the Ukrainian delegation Leonid Kravchuk that Minsk can no longer be a platform for negotiations on Donbass.
“The city, the capital and the country, which today, unfortunately, has become the standard of dictatorship - 33 journalists of free media in Belarus are in dungeons, the plane was stopped in order to remove Mr. Roman Protasevich and put him behind bars, threatening violence... Naturally, such a country can only be a platform for establishing dictatorship and war, and not peace in Donbass as the highest and most humane task that exists,” Kravchuk said the day before.
His words caused Sergei Lavrov bewilderment.
“As for Kravchuk’s statement, he is, of course, the head of the delegation, but it is not for him to decide how the contact group will work, which was created in the context of a package of documents that was approved at the summit in Minsk in February 2015, and then approved by a UN Security Council resolution. I think those who signed this document will continue to agree on how to organize this work,” said the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
He also stressed that it is not for Ukraine to make claims to anyone regarding the landing of foreign aircraft on its territory.
“If Kravchuk decided to refer to the situation with the Ryanair plane, then where are the feelings not only among him, but also among his Western colleagues, about what happened in 2016? When, without any explanation at all, related to the bomb or not, they simply said out of the blue that the Belarusian Airlines plane had to be grounded. In order to remove from board the person who participated in the Anti-Maidan. That is, he objected to the illegal unconstitutional coup, to the armed seizure of power. He opposed those who eventually came to leading positions in Kyiv - first of all, they were ultra-radicals with a neo-Nazi flavor.
For the fact that a person spoke out against an anti-state coup, without any bomb, the Ukrainian authorities simply landed a Belarusian plane and removed this citizen from board. So I wouldn’t confuse the story unless the Ukrainian side wants to find some excuse to completely evade fulfilling its responsibilities. I hope that France and Germany, as co-authors of the Minsk agreements, will not allow the Ukrainian authorities to do this,” commented Sergei Lavrov.
“Nothing will change by moving the site, because Ukraine still remains incapable of agreement - it blocks work in virtually all subgroups. It is not the platform that needs to be changed, nor their composition of the negotiating group, but the leadership of Ukraine. And Kravchuk’s statements are just his whim, a foolishness, another attempt to promote himself on the topic of “Minsk,” explained the situation, deputy of the People’s Council of the DPR Vladislav Berdichevsky.
English version :: Read in English The usually reserved Lavrov scolded Kravchuk for his "whimsy and idiocy."