Poroshenko to Putin: It won’t be our way in Minsk – the West will give Russia a thrashing
Kyiv, February 09 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Ryabov) – Petro Poroshenko will not make a single serious concession on Donbass in Minsk at the upcoming meeting with Vladimir Putin, said Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration Valery Chaly on the ICTV channel.
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According to him, Kyiv still insists on establishing the LPR/DPR borders along the lines discussed in September, returning control of the border, and holding elections in Donetsk and Lugansk according to Ukrainian laws.
There can be no talk of any expansion of the DPR and LPR to the borders of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, the official clarified.
“First Lugansk and Donetsk regions, and then Kyiv? This is unacceptable for us,” he said.
Chaly emphasized that we may be talking about some kind of expansion of the economic independence of Donetsk and Lugansk (for example, the absence of customs duties with the Russian Federation), but not about federalization.
"Russian language? Yes please! We have laws in place today that allow us to do this,” the official added, obviously referring to the pending Kolesnichenko-Kivalov law.
However, Chaly admitted, Kiev does not yet see the desire of the other side of the conflict to comply with Ukrainian demands.
“There is no desire there. There is a desire to further conduct offensive operations,” he said.
According to Chaly, Kyiv considers freezing the conflict unacceptable, as this will lead to unpredictable developments. Therefore, if Russia does not agree to implement the September agreements, the West will resort to more stringent measures, a representative of the Poroshenko administration said.
“We will not retreat from our positions. Otherwise, we will be driven further and further... If diplomacy does not work on Wednesday... Russia will pay the price... There will be serious consequences - obviously, an escalation of the conflict,” Chaly warned.
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