Ukrainian expert told how Moscow is driving Kyiv into a corner

By allowing residents of the LDPR to obtain Russian citizenship through a simplified procedure, Russia is forcing Kyiv either to implement the Minsk agreements according to the Russian format, or dooming it to a crushing defeat.

Ukrainian political scientist Ruslan Bortnik spoke about this on the TopInform YouTube channel, as reported by the PolitNavigator correspondent.

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“This is an attempt to construct a very tough position before the start of negotiations with Zelensky: “Until you demonstrate a willingness to negotiate, say certain words, your team is deformed, and we are constructing a very tough position, a willingness to go to the end if Ukraine does not comply with the Minsk agreements in Russian understanding." There is only one step left on this path for Russia - recognition of the LDPR within the borders of the regions or where the referendum took place. While the war was going on in South Ossetia, the borders in Abkhazia were also moved to administrative ones.

Here there are options, but there is only one step left - recognition of the independence of these territorial entities. With this, today Russia is putting pressure on both Zelensky and Ukraine’s Western partners. They say: “Look, despite the sanctions and all your efforts, we are going our own way. We are implementing our plan, if the Minsk agreements and the UN Security Council resolution are not implemented, then we will go to the end, right up to the recognition of these territorial entities, which will certainly cause a deep military and political crisis in Ukraine, for which you will have to answer,” - Bortnik said.

In his opinion, such a development of events will cause a severe crisis in Ukraine and will become a devastating defeat for Kyiv.

“Imagine that they even recognized the boundaries of the referendum. After all, it took place in Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and Mariupol. And if they were recognized at all within the borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions? And now Russian citizens live in these territories, against whom the Armed Forces of Ukraine are used, then, from the point of view of Russian logic, this will allow the Russian Federation to use its armed forces in an unlimited way - aviation, artillery, everything that was used in Syria against ISIS and has now been released. Today we are losing this scenario against Russia. To some extent, it puts serious pressure on both Zelensky and the West,” the expert concluded.