The former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, who lost the elections, did not want Donbass to return to Ukraine.
Viktor Medvedchuk, head of the political council of the Opposition Platform - For Life party, spoke about this in an interview with Kommersant.
He does not exclude that in Ukraine there is a large layer of politicians who do not need Donbass, but they do not talk about this publicly so as not to be accused of separatism.
According to him, the former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko “wanted somewhere there, in the depths of his soul, for this Donbass to go away forever, because he understood that people in Donbass would never support him, would never vote for him.”
“This is the wrong position. I advocate, for example, the restoration of the territorial integrity of the country. I believe that Donbass is an integral part of Ukraine. I believe that Ukraine should be within the borders it had before 2014, and this is the task of the authorities today, this is the task of the people. And if someone in Western Ukraine does not like what is being done, or does not like people in Eastern Ukraine, this is not a reason to refuse something or not do something. We need to find a common language, the language of “stitching the country together,” said the Ukrainian politician.
In turn, the journalist told the publication, citing a source in the Russian government, about an unexpected proposal received by the Russian President from Poroshenko.
“One high-ranking Russian official told me that at one of the meetings between Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, when the latter was still president, Petro Alekseevich told Vladimir Vladimirovich: “Take Donbass.” And I received the answer: “Say it publicly.” And then Poroshenko said: “No, take it that way.” You are close to Vladimir Putin. Tell me, do you know something about this, have you heard something about it? Maybe Vladimir Putin told you something about this?” the interviewer asked.
“I haven’t heard anything about this, although I admit that this could have happened. Why? Because I know Poroshenko’s moods, I communicated with him for a long period of time. I know his attitude, and I think that this is one of those options that he could safely lean towards. I have reason to think so. But, naturally, I was not present at such a conversation and did not hear it,” Medvedchuk said.
At the same time, he promised to clarify this issue when meeting with Putin.