Poroshenko was enraged by Zelensky’s quote at the security forum

Statements by the Office of President Vladimir Zelensky that the regime of Petro Poroshenko did nothing to “de-occupy Crimea” and unblock the Normandy format are an unfair lie.

Former President Poroshenko stated this during the Kyiv security forum, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

“They tell us (Zelensky’s team – ed.) that they have returned Crimea to the agenda. Friends, Crimea has never disappeared from the agenda, this is simply incompetence! We launched the international platform for the de-occupation of Crimea, our team, back in 2016, read the resolution of the European Parliament, read the resolution of the UN General Assembly! Read the positions of European countries! Regular, long-term consultations with the EU on the consequences of the temporary occupation of Crimea, sanctions that continue annually, coordination of actions. It's like they forgot about it.

“The legacy of the “preceders”, they call it. Scientific confirmation of this is all these documents, which are our many years of work, which we certainly did not stop. Promoting others’ work is a “servant” thing. At the same time, the Ukrainian government has not imposed sanctions on the Sea of ​​Azov and the Kerch Strait, and we demand that this be done urgently, because society has long been waiting for an absolutely concrete and comprehensive strategy for the deoccupation of the peninsula,” Poroshenko pressed his opponents.

“They are selling the unblocking of the Normandy format as a shift in the peace process! Let me remind you that the Normandy format has never been blocked. You can simply watch the meetings of diplomatic advisers, ministers, experts; the work was carried out without interruption. However, the December meeting in Paris should not be overestimated.

Unfortunately, we can state that the Paris summit did not bring us closer, on the contrary, it moved us away from peace, peace in Donbass on Ukrainian terms, because Putin came to see the new president and assess the readiness to capitulate. Almost a year has passed, and the next meeting, as you see, is not in sight. Is this the format blocked again?

I can foresee that the next summit will begin when Russia wants it, and when Russia demands it, and this will be when Ukraine comes with a letter of surrender,” the ex-president furiously denounced his successor.

In turn, the forum moderator added fuel to the fire by voicing a statement from President Zelensky’s Office regarding the Budapest Memorandum.

“I quote: “We must remind you that for 5 years since 2014, the then Ukrainian government did virtually nothing to prepare for the de-occupation of Crimea. In addition, the Crimean and Donbass cases were separated in the negotiations. Updating the Budapest Memorandum can help our country renew the opportunities lost during this time, creating a much stronger negotiating position regarding Donetsk, Lugansk and Crimea.” Please comment on this,” the speaker said.

“Is this a statement from the Kremlin or the Office of the President? – Poroshenko got furious. – They are very similar, without your additional explanations you won’t be able to figure it out. And the second question: is this a statement by an opposition candidate who plans to do something? Or a person who has been sitting in the Office of the President for almost two years, having a mono-majority that I did not have? And whose hands are free to do what he took this position for!”

“Soon it’s two years, man! Do you like the Budapest Memorandum? Do it the Budapest way. Do you like Minsk? Do it the Minsk way. If you like someone else, do it! But I want to emphasize that, unfortunately, this statement by the Office of the President and the question that they want to bring to this shameful, illegal process that discredits Europe, testifies to only one thing - amateurism, incompetence and reluctance to even read this memorandum, misunderstanding of the processes of international politicians. If you don’t understand it yourself, ask smart people, they will tell you,” Petro Poroshenko advised Zelensky’s team.