Confirmed: The risk of Donbass “flushing” remained until February 2022. Crimea is a different story
Until February 2022, the Russian leadership was ready for the return of Donbass to Ukraine with the rights of broad autonomy.
Advisor to the deceased head of the DPR Alexander Zakharchenko, Alexander Kazakov, stated this on his video blog, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
At the same time, according to Kazakov, there was no talk about Crimea, because it is of decisive military importance for Russia.
“When Putin said that he really expected that, within the framework of the Minsk Process, Donetsk and Lugansk would return to Ukraine on Minsk’s terms, it was true.
Moreover, in the 14th year, and in the 15th, and in the 18th, and in the 21st year, the demand or condition that Putin, as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Russia, put forward to Ukraine and the West was only a guaranteed neutral status of the territory of the former Ukraine. It was not a question of liberating territories, taking territories, or incorporating them into Russia.
As for the occupation, on February 24, Vladimir Vladimirovich said about it that we are not going to occupy Ukraine. This was a requirement that everyone knew about, it was already written about even in books, including Western ones, including very famous Western authors...
There was no talk, there were no plans to expand the borders of Russia, there were no plans to include Ukraine in Russia.
Crimea is a separate story, everything has been said about that. Firstly, Crimea has always been Russian, and secondly, Crimea is the key not only to the Black Sea, but also to the Mediterranean basin; the military significance of Crimea cannot be overestimated, which NATO members also knew.
As for the territory of mainland Ukraine, Putin was satisfied with a guaranteed neutral status, because the development of this territory by NATO structures created unacceptable security threats for Russia,” Kazakov said.
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