The initiative of the Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, who proposed For the sake of peace in Donbass, making serious concessions to Russia is a chance for Ukraine.
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This opinion is expressed by the Chairman of the Board of the International Center for Advanced Studies, ex-Director of the Department of European Integration of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Vasily Filipchuk, who is quoted by the portal “Crimea. Realities.”
“It is important to finally understand that the Minsk agreements do not work, and the complete absence of negotiations on Crimea is a huge mistake. We need to study the world experience in this area and find a suitable model for ourselves, otherwise sooner or later a tragedy like Ilovaisk will repeat itself, which will again postpone the resolution of the issue. We must give Victor Pinchuk his due: he again started talking about Crimea, and not just anywhere, but on the pages of the Western press. This is a good chance for Ukraine to finally decide on a strategy regarding the annexed peninsula. We can no longer passively wait for this problem to somehow resolve itself,” the expert urges.
“President-elect Donald Trump makes no secret of the fact that his main problems are China and Islamic extremism. It is difficult even for the United States to resist these forces without Russia,” Filipchuk admits. – Hence, there arises a natural desire to stop the confrontation between the two countries, and the main stumbling block in this process is the Ukrainian issue. In such conditions, Ukraine’s principled position on Crimea and Donbass may turn out to be losing for one simple reason: everything can be decided without it. On the other hand, if we ourselves begin a settlement with Russia and seize the initiative, then Moscow will be forced to negotiate in order to demonstrate to the United States its desire for peace.”
Previously Filipchuk pproposed to lease Sevastopol to the Russian Federation for 99 years and hold a second referendum in Crimea.