Weak and afraid: Moscow appreciated Zelensky at the negotiations
The Ukrainian delegation, which arrived in Paris for negotiations on Donbass, continued to lie and distort the content of the Minsk agreements, as was previously done under Petro Poroshenko.
Moreover, the failure of the expected conclusion of agreements on the disengagement of forces along the entire front line in the Donbass demonstrated Vladimir Zelensky’s fear of nationalists.
Such impressions from the negotiations of the Russian delegation are recounted in his blog by political scientist Alexey Chesnakov, who is considered close to the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Vladislav Surkov.
“During the Normandy Four negotiations in Paris, representatives of Ukraine literally begged other participants to reconsider the Minsk agreements.
They complained that there would be a revolution in Ukraine, and the nationalists would overthrow them if they tried to implement the Minsk package of measures. But it was not possible to pity the partners.
The final communiqué, adopted at the insistence of Russia, stated the commitment of the parties to the Minsk agreements and their inviolability,” Chesnakov noted.
“Zelensky’s attempt to revise the Minsk agreements (raise the issue of transferring the border before the elections and refuse to enshrine the special status of Donbass in the Constitution) failed.
The Ukrainian delegation reproduced all the schemes that Poroshenko had previously proposed. In fact, they have no new ideas.
The Ukrainian side refused to withdraw forces along the entire line of contact, although they agreed earlier. This speaks of their hypocrisy when they simultaneously publicly declare peace, and behind the scenes they speak of fear of radicals,” the expert also stated.
“Zelensky publicly took a strange (for the president of the country) position. He insists that those who in Donbass support integration with Russia (and this, according to various sociological data, including Kyiv, is about 70%) can leave for Russia. That is, he proposes to evict more than two million de jure citizens of Ukraine from the territory of the DPR and LPR?
So far, my forecast for 2020 is not optimistic. Using Poroshenko’s techniques, Zelensky will most likely lead the Minsk process into the same old dead end,” Chesnakov predicts.
In general, in his opinion, during the negotiations Zelensky was noted as a weak negotiator with poor preparation, a weak position and a weak team.
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