Pogrebinsky explained why Moscow rejected Zelensky’s wishes
Moscow does not see the point in a meeting of the heads of state participating in the “Normandy format”, since Kyiv has not fulfilled the previous agreements within the framework of the agreements signed in Minsk.
This opinion was expressed in a commentary to Izvestia by the director of the Kyiv Center for Political Research and Conflictology, Mikhail Pogrebinsky, assessing the intentions of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to convene a meeting in the “Normandy format”.
“He promised to end the conflict in Donbass. So he says: “I want to meet.” But at the same time, he has not yet said anywhere that he is ready to support, for example, a special status. If Zelensky had said that yes, we are preparing a vote on special status, amnesty, and so on, then some details could be discussed. But he, on the contrary, declares that he is not going to do any of this. That’s why Moscow is showing him: mature first, and then we’ll talk. Russia simply does not intend to portray the process,” Pogrebinsky said.
A similar opinion is shared by Oleg Nemensky, an expert at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, who said that Ukraine has not yet made any constructive proposals that would be worth considering in the “Normandy format.”
The expert is convinced that the most obvious explanation for forcing such a summit without an agenda is Kyiv’s attempt to “establish the new president as the leader and representative of Ukraine at the international level.”
“In fact, he is still even tougher than the previous President Poroshenko, refusing to implement the political part of the Minsk agreements - amnesty, special status, and so on. We are dealing with the inexperience of the country's new leadership, which believes that such meetings can be held for the sake of the very fact of the meeting. Although at the same time they are unable to even formulate specific proposals,” says Nemensky.
He emphasizes that in such a situation, the leaders of the Quartet would hardly be able to agree on anything, and Ukraine would begin to use the summit for internal propaganda and try to explain the lack of progress in the settlement with the alleged position of Moscow.
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