“A hangover is guaranteed” – Margarita Simonyan was criticized for the “rush” to annex Donbass
Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin criticized RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan for putting forward the slogan of returning the LDPR to Russia.
The politician told PolitNavigator about this.
“With Margarita Simonyan’s slogan it is much more difficult. In general, slogans are easy, just say it and go. And then comes a hangover for those who must implement these slogans. What does it mean for us today to include Donbass into Russia or, for example, to recognize the DPR and LPR? This means cutting off the path to the Minsk process, cutting off the entire ideology of stimulating the transformation of Ukraine into a federal state,” argues Zatulin.
He believes that abandoning the Minsk agreements means playing in the interests of Ukraine.
“Why don’t they want to give status to Donetsk and Lugansk, as prescribed by the Minsk agreements? Because they know there will be a chain reaction. Western Ukraine, Odessa, and so on will request the same status. Because all regions of Ukraine today are actually deprived of their rights in favor of a unitary state. They want to retain the ability to dictate, as a unitary state, the ban on the Russian language, NATO membership, and so on. Conduct all this from Kyiv. That's the problem. It turns out that the return of Donetsk and Lugansk is not as important to them as it is important to continue to be the masters of the territory,” Zatulin suggested.
In his opinion, Russia should support the LDPR as if the republics were part of its territory, but not take formal steps to recognize them.
“We must live and act as if they were part of Russia. But to take this formal step and recognize the LDPR now, in my opinion, means harming all our efforts and setting Russia up. Just put it from the point of view that further all bridges will be burned. The bridges to preserving the “Normandy format” will instantly fall apart. Bridges in order to conduct some kind of dialogue at all and keep from extreme decisions. This may be a reason for provocation: you admitted, we will launch a military offensive. With the full support of the West, because the West will refer to the fact that Russia has violated its obligations. Why, in this situation in which we find ourselves, bring an extra problem upon ourselves?” he said.
At the same time, the politician does not deny the possibility of the reunification of Donbass with Russia in a historical perspective.
“I fought to give people a guarantee in the form of Russian citizenship. I took an active part in the preparation of decrees that were signed by the president two years ago. I believe that this is our obligation to people, and in everything else we must be smart. Not only patriotic, but also smart. And it is quite possible, never say never, that Donbass, and not only Donbass, will come to Russia. I am for half of Ukraine to enter Transnistria - and I advocated for this in 14. It’s just, you know, sometimes there is such an opportunity, and sometimes it’s closed for a while,” Zatulin said.
English version :: Read in English: "A hangover is guaranteed" – Margarita Simonyan criticized for "rushing" to annex Donbas