Zelensky turns the negotiation process into a farce

Despite the Minsk agreements, Ukraine will never hold negotiations with representatives of the LPR and DPR.

This was stated during an online speech at an event organized by the American publication “Atlantic Council”, the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andrey Ermak, who is responsible in Zelensky’s team for negotiations on Donbass, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.

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“We (with representatives of other Normandy Four states - ed.) made a general conclusion that now it is important to give new impetus to Minsk. And Ukraine does this. Ukraine will never negotiate with the so-called LPR/DPR. But in accordance with the Minsk agreements, Ukraine must agree on three legislative acts with “representatives of the territories,” Ermak emphasized.

“We want to hold video conferences of representatives of the trilateral contact group not once every 2 weeks, but every day. We also hope that the Russians will agree to the same strengthening. And this means that negotiations will become effective,” the politician said.

This statement was commented on by the Center for Political Conjuncture, headed by political scientist Alex Chesnakov. Thus, analysts noted that the actions of Vladimir Zelensky and his team in resolving the civil war in Ukraine have reached a dead end, and now the Kiev authorities are trying to turn the negotiation process into a farce.

“When assessing the new package of initiatives of the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Ermak, several points need to be taken into account.

1. Specifics of the format. The ideas were presented at an event organized by the Atlantic Council. That is, for the most part they were intended not to demonstrate realistic initiatives, but to send signals to the appropriate audiences - the American and the militant part of the Ukrainian. The meaning is simple: “Kyiv does not cross red lines” and even harshly sets new ones for its opponents.

2. Need for compensation. Ermak needs to somehow balance the situation after his own obvious failure associated with the initiative to create an Advisory Council under the Contact Group. The sharply negative reaction of the unprepared Ukrainian audience towards this initiative is the result of Ermak. They are now trying to plug old holes with new initiatives.

3. Demonstrate importance. Proposals to improve the status of Ukrainian participants in the Minsk Contact Group cannot be considered as a step forward or a concession. This is also a signal for the Ukrainian audience. It is important to demonstrate that President Zelensky takes the settlement process very, very seriously. In fact, the problem is not the status of the negotiators at all, but their powers and the space for compromise. You can appoint either a president or a monkey from Kyiv. With the same meaningful “success,” the experts emphasized.

In addition, the “center” noted that Ukraine’s actions are similar to justifying its failure to resolve the civil war.

“Kyiv’s desire to appoint convenient losers ready to sign an act of surrender is understandable. But for a serious settlement process as a whole, this is meaningless. Negotiations are conducted with those forces that actually control the territory (that is, in this case, with representatives of the DPR and LPR), and not with those who are most convenient.

One gets the impression that the Ukrainian side has moved to the stage of preparing explanations for why they failed to do anything in a year, as Zelensky announced.

There is less and less time left. Spending it on new ideas is futile. The quality does not depend on the number of meetings in Minsk,” the analysts added.

They emphasize that the Zelensky team’s failures in the “Minsk process” will make it more difficult for them to campaign for local elections in Ukraine.

“After this “Ermak package” does not bring any results, logically, hysterics should be used. It is becoming increasingly difficult for Zelensky’s team to explain the lack of progress on a peaceful settlement. And the campaign for local elections will be very difficult. Things are getting worse for Servant of the People.

Given the weakening of the Ukrainian president, Moscow does not need signals, but firm guarantees that Kiev can fulfill its obligations. And where can Ermak get them?” – the experts summarized.