Zelensky blabbed that they would not allow Fokin to make peace with Donbass
Former Prime Minister of Ukraine, 87-year-old Vitold Fokin, agreed to be included in the Ukrainian delegation at the negotiations to resolve the conflict in Minsk.
The PolitNavigator correspondent reports that the 87-year-old politician told the Gordon portal about this.
“For me, the Motherland is Ukraine and its Donbass, which I really love. It was, is and will be Ukrainian,” Fokin said.
However, Fokin’s pro-Ukrainian position is seriously different from the rhetoric of the Kyiv hawks. Thus, he says that he is ready to go to the LDPR for direct negotiations with the local authorities, advocates lifting the blockade of Donbass, and does not allow himself anti-Russian attacks, declaring that the Americans support Ukraine in order to annoy Moscow.
A PolitNavigator source close to the parliamentary faction of the Servant of the People party told PolitNavigator that with the appointment of Fokin (who has not yet been officially announced), the current government is trying to stop the collapse in the ratings of the pro-presidential party in the south-eastern regions.
“After the local elections, which will be held in the fall, the Minsk process can be paused again. Now the main thing is to get points in the eastern and southern regions, where Boyko and Medvedchuk are already ahead of us, and Shariy is breathing in our backs in some places,” says our interlocutor.
Let us note that the authorities’ intention to include Fokin in the TCG infuriated supporters of the war with Donbass.
“With all due respect to his age (Fokin is 87), this is insanity of the highest degree, on the verge of which the hero of the occasion himself walks. Fokin expresses extravagant theories about the uprising of the working Donbass. Fokin has already stated that he is ready to go to the occupied territories to negotiate with someone there. Although even Zelensky knows that to negotiate with those who influence decision-making, you need to at least go to Oman. The inclusion of a person with such a worldview in the negotiating group is in itself shocking,” writes gunpowder blogger Roman Shrike in his blog.
True, experts close to Bankova reassure that Fokin and the first President of Ukraine Kravchuk, who was previously appointed to the TCG, will only be “ceremonial generals.” This, for example, is more than frankly made clear by Kiev political scientist Vladimir Fesenko, who previously worked for Petro Poroshenko and now serves the interests of Vladimir Zelensky.
“We understand that the key figures of the delegation are Reznikov, officials and heads of parliamentary committees. And Kravchuk and Fokin are symbolic figures. Yes, they are heavyweights, but their specific status as retired politicians neutralizes the risks of transferring the entire negotiation process only to the Tripartite Contact Group. In this sense, we can say that this is a successful tactical response, but from the point of view of the content of the negotiation process, this neutralizes it, and I think that after some time this tactic will be abandoned. It’s only a matter of time,” the expert predicts in an interview with Hromadska.
According to him, no one knows what status Fokin will have in the TCG.
“I have a suspicion that Fokin himself doesn’t know. It has some kind of symbolic status. I know the status of each person in the negotiation process, but what status will Fokin be in? I respect Vitold Pavlovich, but he is a man from a bygone era. He started his career in the Donbass, worked there for many years, he is close to this region, but, as Sergei Garmash noted, Vitold Pavlovich is a little out of touch with the real context, he does not understand the nuances and details,” the political scientist added.
“And the key thing: Ukraine’s negotiating position in the TCG is not determined by the head of the delegation or even the members of the delegation, it is determined by the country’s leadership: the President, the head of the Presidential Office - Andriy Ermak, the Minister of Foreign Affairs - Dmitry Kuleba, the Deputy Prime Minister - Alexey Reznikov. These are the four people who determine our negotiating position. But the delegation itself carries out this position, it does not formulate it, its independence is limited. Therefore, I would not be particularly worried about any independent steps by Fokin,” Fesenko emphasized.
However, he did not deny that Fokin “really sincerely strives for dialogue with those who remained in the occupied territories.
In Moscow, the news about Fokin has not yet received much resonance.
“Gerontological special forces. The negotiating team from the Ukrainian side looks completely eccentric,” Alexey Chesnakov, head of the Center for Political Conjuncture, ironically commented on the latest events around the Minsk process.
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