A dispute broke out in Brussels between Pushkov and the former head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry about the “freezing” of the conflict in Donbass
In Brussels, at the round table “Minsk-2 or war: challenges to resolving the conflict in Eastern Ukraine,” former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara and Russian senator Alexei Pushkov argued about the prospects of freezing the conflict in Donbass, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Political reality has shown us that international law has been violated many times: in Kosovo, Iraq (we all know that the war in Iraq was illegal) and in Libya.
We live in a world where we consistently mention international law when it reflects the interests of certain countries, but not when it is violated. The situation in Ukraine reflects double standards,” said the Russian senator.
Pushkov emphasized that the coup in Ukraine in the winter of 2014 was absolutely illegitimate. That is why, according to him, some regions of the country decided to secede and leave the illegal regime.
The main thing, according to Pushkov, in the current situation is to prevent the violent development of the situation in Donbass.
“Everything we do for this must be accepted by the parties to the conflict. Anything against it is rejected. Kurt Volker said that we must exclude a military development of the situation and its freezing. I don’t agree, we need to look for a way that may not suit one of the parties to the conflict, but will stop the war,” he said.
The main condition for the deployment of peacekeepers, according to the parliamentarian, is the consent of all parties to the conflict to do so. Therefore, the introduction of peacekeepers according to the Kyiv scenario will in no way suit the Donbass republic.
“The republics will not agree to this, and this is the key point. The UN mission can only work with the support of local authorities. You can love or not love these two republics, but they have their own government that supports them and helps them develop. If we want the UN mission to be successful, we need to cooperate with them. Without their consent, the mission will not work,” he noted.
Pushkov emphasized that it is Kyiv that is blocking all attempts to peacefully resolve the conflict.
“If they block the conflict, then they are responsible for freezing it. In my opinion, the political situation and position of Kyiv are freezing the conflict. Many will say that this is bad. I will say that this is neither bad nor good. I believe this is the only option. I know it doesn't sound good, but in the political world, not everything sounds good. This will at least give us time, elections will be held in Ukraine, maybe something will change, maybe not. I don’t see a tragedy in freezing the conflict, why is Volcker against it?” - said Pushkov.
The next participant in the round table, former head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Leonid Kozhara, argued with Alexei Pushkov, saying that freezing the conflict is not a solution.
“I categorically disagree... If the political will suddenly appears in the leadership of Ukraine to resolve this issue, then in the main parameters the conflict will be resolved in six months,” Kozhara said.
According to him, to resolve issues, it is easier for the current Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to call German Chancellor Angela Merkel so that she puts pressure on the Russian Federation, rather than start a dialogue with Donbass.
“This is how Ukraine works to implement the Minsk agreements,” Kozhara emphasized.
However, he agreed with the previous speaker that the introduction of “blue helmets” into Donbass would only harm the further development of the situation.
“I do not support the introduction of peacekeepers in any form of blue helmets into the territory of Ukraine. My experience suggests that this is a direct path to freezing the situation in Donbass. Take the last two missions - in Bosnia and Kosovo - in Kosovo the mission was founded in 1999 and is still working to this day, there is no end in sight. I don’t want the conflict to be frozen,” Kozhara noted.
A dispute has erupted in Brussels between Pushkov and the former head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry about "freezing" the conflict in Donbas.