It’s time for the West to take a decisive step to resolve the crisis in Donbass and get Kyiv to stop the so-called. “ATO.” Political scientist Denis Denisov, an expert at the Institute of CIS Countries, writes about this on the pages of the Izvestia newspaper.
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“...It would be logical for Ukraine’s Western partners (of course, provided that they are actually interested in resolving the Ukrainian crisis) to push the Kiev leadership to end the ATO in the form of a “gesture of goodwill.” The “gesture of goodwill” could be a response to the agreement of representatives of the DPR and LPR not to hold elections in their territories unilaterally.
Such a step would certainly influence the de-escalation of the conflict and demonstrate Kyiv’s good intentions. The cessation of the ATO is not spelled out in the Minsk agreements, but it is clear that this decision will only speed up their implementation, which will subsequently lead to sustainable peace,” the author believes.
According to Denisov, the so-called “Anti-terrorist operation” contradicts the legislation of Ukraine and is used by Kiev only as a convenient screen to deny the existence of a Civil War.
“The question remains of identifying the side with which Ukraine is fighting. Who is she fighting with? If Kyiv names the DPR and LPR as such parties, this will mean their actual recognition as subjects of international relations. If Russia is designated as the opposing party, this gives the Russian Federation the right to adequately respond to such a decision.
Accordingly, the ATO in its current form has become a very convenient screen for the Ukrainian authorities, allowing them to continue the civil war in Donbass, but at the same time publicly declare about repelling aggression from Russia,” the expert emphasizes.