© Reuters/Denis Balibouse/Elizabeth FranzDeputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Dmitry Kozak
US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland
US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland
That's according to Dmitry Kozak, the Kremlin's deputy chief of staff, who spoke to the media after a meeting in Moscow with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland. Nuland is in Moscow for a three-day working visit and has already met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin. Nuland was previously banned from entering the country as part of counter-sanctions against Washington, but the Kremlin agreed to remove her from the blacklist to enable the short visit.
Kozak told news daily Kommersant:
"A thorough and constructive dialogue took place regarding the settlement of the conflict in south-east Ukraine. It was confirmed that the Minsk agreements remain the only basis for a settlement.Nuland herself described the talks at the Kremlin as both "productive" and "useful."
"During the talks, the US confirmed its position ... that significant progress towards the settlement of the conflict is unlikely without any agreement on future parameters of Donbass autonomy. In other words, giving the region a special status within Ukraine."
Nuland is best known worldwide for visiting the site of the Maidan protests in Kiev in late 2013, when she was seen handing out cookies to demonstrators. This caused a stir in Moscow, which saw it as overt American support for the movement.
The conflict in Ukraine began following the events of the Maidan, which eventually led to the two self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk (DNR) and Luhansk (LNR) declaring independence, in a move recognized by neither Moscow nor Kiev. The Donetsk and Luhansk regions are both in the east of Ukraine, on the Russian border.
On September 5, 2014, representatives from Ukraine, Russia, DNR, and LNR signed the so-called Minsk Protocol, mediated by French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. As well as being a ceasefire document, the agreement also included a roadmap for the future of Donbass, which specifically mentioned the decentralization of power away from Kiev.
On Tuesday, following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted that the EU also backs the implementation of the Minsk Protocol.
Finally, the US and its vassals in Europe got the message: Russia meant what it said (imagine that!) that the Crimea is now and always will be part of Russia, and the LNR and DNR with their Russian populations would be defended with force. The US redeployed its warships to Cyprus instead of the Black Sea, and only the British, with silly daydreams of Empire, dared to send a warship into the Black Sea. Everyone pulled back and pretended it had all been just a military exercise. Now we see Victoria ("Fuck the EU") Nuland holding talks in Moscow. Perhaps, just perhaps, finally, the West will understand the Russians: Their willingness to negotiate with hostile parties does NOT mean they are a pushover and weak, but comes from their desire to avoid all-out war until it becomes inevitable.
Unlike the leaders of the West, Russian leaders did not grow up playing make-believe computer games where one can kill one's opponent over and over again and never suffer any consequences except having to get up and go pee once in a while, but grew up fighting real wars in which their families and friends died and/or were maimed for life. There is not a single soul alive in Russia who did not lose relatives in the Great Patriotic War. Many Russians, like the much-celebrated Jews in their much-celebrated Holocaust, were the sole survivors of their entire families. Twenty-five million or more. This means, Russians want to avoid war at all costs, but if forced to fight, they have done it before, and are prepared to do it again.
Finally, finally, the leaders in the USA seem to have understood, and Victoria ("Fuck the EU") Nuland has been admitted to Moscow to hold talks. Maybe there is hope for us after all.
(PS: For me, that bulbous sagging face with the sour mouth, the dead eyes and eyebrows disappearing into the hairline, will forever belong to Victoria ("Fuck the EU") Nuland... I insist on referring to the lady(?) by her full name.)