December 16, 2019 "
Information
Clearing House" -
After
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky finished
multilateral peace talks in Paris, the emphatic
media message was that “no red lines had been
crossed” in negotiations with Russian leader
Vladimir Putin. It sounded like Zelensky was far
more concerned with trying to reassure observers he
hadn’t “capitulated” to Putin, rather than engaging
in a genuine dialogue to resolve his country’s
conflict.
The so-called Normandy Four format of
France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine is scheduled to
meet again in four months. The meeting in Paris on
December 9 was the first time leaders had convened
after nearly a three-year hiatus. It is to be
welcomed that President Zelensky, who was elected in
April, shows a willingness to engage with Russia,
unlike predecessor Petro Poroshenko, in order to
bring peace to eastern Ukraine. The region has been
mired in nearly six years of civil war.
During the Paris talks, there was agreement to
uphold a ceasefire in Ukraine’s Donbas region, and
to extend deconfliction zones by withdrawing troops
and artillery. There was also agreement on the
exchange of all prisoners between Ukraine government
forces and the pro-Russia rebels in Donbas. All very
good. But what about the full implementation of the
Minsk Accord signed back in 2015?
That accord obliges the government in Kiev to
permit elections and regional autonomy in the
Donbas. It also obliges a full amnesty for rebels
who took up arms against the Kiev administration,
which came to power through an illegal US-backed
coup in February 2014. The Kiev power grab ushered
in an ultra-nationalist Russophobic regime intent on
dominating the pro-Russian eastern region. The
dramatic shift in power in Kiev towards Neo-Nazi
demagogues and paramilitaries was the decisive
factor in Donbas taking up arms and also in
pro-Russia Crimea seceding in March 2014 and joining
the Russian Federation.
Regrettably, President Zelensky appears unwilling
to implement the Minsk deal which his predecessor
signed up to. In fact, at the concluding press
conference jointly held by the four leaders at the
Paris talks, Zelensky was given to trying to
re-write Minsk. He insisted on “security issues”
being settled before political issues. That suggests
he wants rebels in Donbas to disarm without Kiev
recognizing the region’s autonomy. Zelensky also
insisted on “not giving up Donbas and Crimea”, and
of regaining control over all of Ukraine’s borders,
including those adjacent to Russia.
