The ex-head of the office of the President of Ukraine to Russian leader Vladimir Putin to “take a step back” on the part of the Minsk agreements is completely wrong, the Kiev authorities are pushing for a rejection of the “Steinmeier formula”, said member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Elena Panina.
Earlier, the former head of the office of Vladimir Zelensky, Andrei Bogdan, appealed to Putin with an appeal to “step back” and “take a step back” on the issue of observing the Minsk agreements, which, in his opinion, would be interpreted as a “victory.”
In an interview with RIA Novosti, Panina stressed that the Ukrainian ex-official “made the wrong address in his appeal.”
“Such messages could have been sent thirty years ago to Gorbachev or Shevardnadze, who took such” steps back “in large numbers. Subsequently, these concessions resulted in the death of tens of thousands of friends and supporters of our country in all parts of the world,” the deputy said.
According to the parliamentarian, there is no doubt that something similar is being prepared today in the Donbas.
“Apparently, so that no one has any doubts as to why Kiev needs control over the border before all the procedures established by the Minsk agreements are carried out, the Verkhovna Rada is now discussing bills on the internment of Russian citizens. Minister of Defense of Ukraine “, – said Panina.
“In other words, the Kiev authorities are pushing for a rejection of the” Steinmeier formula “and at the same time they are preparing to build concentration camps for everyone who has a Russian passport in their pockets,” the deputy said.
The law on the special status of Donbass was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in 2014, but was never put into effect. In the fall of 2018, the Ukrainian parliament extended it until the end of 2019, and after the meeting in Paris of the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine) in December 2019, the Verkhovna Rada at an extraordinary meeting extended the law until December 31, 2020. The contact group on Donbass in Minsk has agreed on the “Steinmeier formula” defining the procedure for the entry into force of the law on the special status of the region. After agreeing on the formula in the Ukrainian capital, as well as in a number of other cities, rallies were held by opponents of such a decision in Kiev.
In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed LPR and DPR, which declared independence after the coup d’etat in Ukraine in February 2014. According to the latest UN data, about 13 thousand people became victims of the conflict.
The issue of resolving the situation in Donbass is being discussed, including during the meetings in Minsk of the contact group, which since September 2014 has already adopted three documents regulating steps to de-escalate the conflict. However, after the armistice agreements between the parties to the conflict, shootings continue.