Zelensky
© EPA-EFE/TOMS KALNINSUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
After Vladimir Putin's response to Vladimir Zelensky's proposal to meet in the Donbass to discuss the conflict, in which the Russian President told his Ukrainian counterpart that he must first discuss with the DPR and LPR (Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics) leaders, one of the advisors to the Ukrainian presidential cabinet has openly declared that there will never be negotiations between Ukraine and the People's Republics, thus publicly disavowing the Minsk Agreements.

Despite Zelensky's fine statements, with each passing day Ukraine buries the Minsk Agreements a little more. Last year, Kiev tried to negotiate not with DPR and LPR representatives, but with people who left Donbass in 2014.

In late March 2021, the Rada passed a resolution declaring the Donbass war to be a Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict, which is in complete contravention of the Minsk Agreements. Then a few days ago, Ukraine openly said that it refused to interact directly with the DPR and LPR in the coordination mechanism to maintain a complete and indefinite ceasefire.

Continuing with his attempt to pretend that the conflict in Donbass is not a civil war, but a war between Russia and Ukraine, Zelensky told the media that he proposed to Vladimir Putin to meet in Donbass. A pitiful and pathetic maneuver, which the Russian President cleverly foiled by reminding his Ukrainian counterpart that to discuss the conflict in Donbass it is with the leaders of the DPR and LPR that Ukraine must discuss, and not with him.

The latter had also offered Zelensky to meet at his convenience on the frontline of his choice, in order to discuss seriously the peaceful resolution of the conflict.

The response of one of Zelensky's advisers to these proposals clearly shows that Ukraine totally disavows the Minsk Agreements. Indeed, one of the Ukrainian representatives in the contact groups, and advisor to Vladimir Zelensky, Alexey Arestovich, stated unambiguously that Kiev will never negotiate with the DPR and LPR. The most incredible thing is that he even dared to say, in a total reversal of accusations, that Vladimir Putin's response was tantamount to a withdrawal from the Minsk Agreements.

Arestovich said on the air of the TV channel Ukraine 24:
"Our principled position is that there will not and cannot be any negotiations with the so-called 'DPR' and 'LPR', even in a fantasy world, even in 'Fiction in the second degree' mode. But Putin did something very interesting today: he actually disavowed the Minsk Agreements. He said 'with the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics,' which Russia has never recognized before. Of course, this is a slip of the tongue, but it weakens the Minsk Agreements. If we stick to this, it is a verbal withdrawal from the Minsk Agreements."
Except that there is no slip of the tongue or verbal withdrawal from the Minsk Agreements by Russia, since Moscow is not a side to the conflict, nor is it the main signatory of these agreements. It is only a guarantor, like France and Germany. And the explicit use of the names DPR and LPR, which is the de facto name of the two republics, whether Mr. Arestovich likes it or not, does not change the fact that Ukraine has to discuss with them to implement the Minsk Agreements.

The fact that they are named differently in this document, because at the time of their signing Kiev would never have digested that the two republics were called explicitly by their names, does not change the essence of the document.

And since both Ukraine and Western politicians and media seem to be clogged with emery, I am going to give the full text of the Minsk II agreements, so that everyone can check that there is NO mention of Russia as a side in the conflict, and that it is written in black and white that Kiev must discuss and negotiate with the DPR and LPR, called in the document "certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions".
Full text of the Minsk Agreements II:
  1. Immediate and full ceasefire in particular districts of Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts of Ukraine and its strict fulfillment as of 00:00 midnight EET on 15 February 2015.
  2. Pull-out of all heavy weapons by both sides to equal distance with the aim of creation of a security zone on minimum 50 kilometres (31 mi) apart for artillery of 100mm calibre or more, and a security zone of 70 kilometres (43 mi) for multiple rocket launchers (MRLS) and 140 kilometres (87 mi) for MLRS Tornado-S, Uragan, Smerch, and Tochka U tactical missile systems:
    • for Ukrainian troops, from actual line of contact;
    • for armed formations of particular districts of Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts of Ukraine, from the contact line in accordance with the Minsk Memorandum as of 19 September 2014The pullout of the above-mentioned heavy weapons must start no later than the second day after the start of the ceasefire and finish within 14 days.This process will be assisted by OSCE with the support of the Trilateral Contact Group.
  3. Effective monitoring and verification of ceasefire regime and pullout of heavy weapons by OSCE will be provided from the first day of pullout, using all necessary technical means such as satellites, drones, radio-location systems etc.
  4. On the first day after the pullout a dialogue is to start on modalities of conducting local elections in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation and the Law of Ukraine "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Lugansk Oblasts," and also about the future of these districts based on the above-mentioned law.Without delays, but no later than 30 days from the date of signing of this document, a resolution has to be approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, indicating the territory which falls under the special regime in accordance with the law "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Lugansk Oblasts," based in the line set up by the Minsk Memorandum as of 19 September 2014.
  5. Provide pardon and amnesty by way of enacting a law that forbids persecution and punishment of persons in relation to events that took place in particular districts of Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts of Ukraine.
  6. Provide release and exchange of all hostages and illegally held persons, based on the principle of "all for all". This process has to end - at the latest - on the fifth day after the pullout (of weapons).
  7. Provide safe access, delivery, storage and distribution of humanitarian aid to the needy, based on an international mechanism.
  8. Define the modalities of a full restoration of social and economic connections, including social transfers, such as payments of pensions and other payments (income and revenue, timely payment of communal bills, restoration of tax payments within the framework of Ukrainian legal field).With this aim, Ukraine will restore management over the segment of its banking system in the districts affected by the conflict, and possibly, an international mechanism will be established to ease such transactions.
  9. Restore control of the state border to the Ukrainian government in the whole conflict zone, which has to start on the first day after the local election and end after the full political regulation (local elections in particular districts of Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts based on the law of Ukraine and Constitutional reform) by the end of 2015, on the condition of fulfillment of Point 11 - in consultations and in agreement with representatives of particular districts of Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts within the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group.
  10. Pullout of all foreign armed formations, military equipment, and also mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine under OSCE supervision. Disarmament of all illegal groups.
  11. Constitutional reform in Ukraine, with a new constitution to come into effect by the end of 2015, the key element of which is decentralisation (taking into account peculiarities of particular districts of Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts, agreed with representatives of these districts), and also approval of permanent legislation on the special status of particular districts of Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts in accordance with the measures spelt out in the attached footnote,by the end of 2015.
  12. Based on the Law of Ukraine "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Lugansk Oblasts", questions related to local elections will be discussed and agreed upon with representatives of particular districts of Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts in the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group. Elections will be held in accordance with relevant OSCE standards and monitored by OSCE/ODIHR.
Intensify the work of the Trilateral Contact Group including through the establishment of working groups on the implementation of relevant aspects of the Minsk agreements. They will reflect the composition of the Trilateral Contact Group.

Note 1. The following measures should be included in the Law on the special order for local self-government in certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions:
  • Exemption from punishment, persecution and discrimination of persons connected with the events that took place in certain districts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions;
  • Right to linguistic self-determination;
  • Participation of local authorities in the appointment of heads of prosecutor's offices and courts in some districts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
  • The possibility for the central executive authorities to conclude agreements with the relevant local self-governing authorities on the economic, social and cultural development of certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions;
  • State support for socio-economic development of certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions;
  • Facilitation by the central authorities of cross-border cooperation in some districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions with the regions of the Russian Federation;
  • Creation of People"s Militia units by decision of local councils to maintain law and order in some districts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions;
  • The powers of local council deputies and officials elected in early elections and appointed by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine under this law cannot be terminated prematurely.
Now that everything is clearly written in black on white, let's come back to what is nothing less than a total disavowal of the Minsk Agreements by Ukraine, since the latter, as you can read, explicitly state that Kiev must negotiate with the DPR and LPR ("the representatives of certain districts of Donetsk and Lugansk")

Vladimir Putin's adviser on Donbass, Dmitry Kozak, pointed out the hypocritical side of Ukraine's attitude to make it look like it is not negotiating with the DPR and LPR, when in fact it is doing so in the Trilateral Contact Group. Kozak said:
"All efforts are aimed not at establishing peace but at formally avoiding direct dialogue and contact with representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk. At the same time, this dialogue does exist. All discussions in the contact group and its sub-working groups are 99% discussions between representatives of Ukraine and the Donbass. This is to create the appearance of the absence of such a dialogue for the radical Ukrainian political forces."
Dmitri Kozak also proposed to hold a meeting in the Donbass by 27 April with Germany, France, Ukraine, the DPR and LPR to discuss the ceasefire.

Faced with this proposal, and ignoring the warning issued yesterday by Denis Pushilin, the DPR leader, against any further attempts to involve third countries in the resolution of the conflict, Ukraine has invited Israel to mediate the negotiations between Kiev and Moscow. This is at best sheer nonsense since, as you can read for yourself in the Minsk II agreements, Ukraine should not negotiate with Moscow but with the DPR and LPR, and at worst complete bullshit.

Anyway, this new nonsense and Arestovich's statement clearly show that Ukraine has totally disavowed the Minsk Agreements and will never apply them, since Kiev refuses to negotiate with the DPR and LPR, as provided for in the above-mentioned agreements! No need to beat about the bush, let's call a spade a spade, Ukraine has buried the Minsk Agreements! Let Kiev say it openly once and for all instead of pretending to want to apply its agreements while refusing to do what is written there. This will save time for everyone.