Zelenskiy to demand return of Crimea, Donbas, as well as compensation

As his Russia foreign policy, presidential
front-runner Volodymyr Zelenskiy said during his March 31 press conference that
he will demand the return of Crimea and Donbas to the Ukrainian government, as
well as compensation for the damage done. “If I meet with Mr. Putin, I will
tell him, ‘Well, it’s finally time you returned our territory. Also, how much
money will you compensate us for taking our territories and assisting people,
who participated in the escalations in Crimea and Donbas, throughout their horrifying,
disgusting path?”

As the Kremlin’s response to Zelenskiy’s comment,
Russian Presidential Administration spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia isn’t
occupying any Ukrainian territory and won’t discuss issues related to Crimea.
“The issue is closed once and for all,” he said, adding that the terms
“annexation” and “occupation” don’t apply to Crimea neither de facto, nor de
jure. As for the Kremlin’s reaction to the first-round results, Peskov said it
won’t comment or offer congratulations until after the second-round runoff
scheduled for Apr. 21.

The Kremlin-oriented Opposition Bloc Party for Peace
and Development called upon its supporters to vote neither for Zelenskiy, nor
President Poroshenko, in the runoff. Poroshenko has presided over “the degradation
of the system of state administration,” as well as introducing an epoch of lies
and hypocrisy. Meanwhile, Zelenskiy doesn’t have a clear program and
administrative experience, and voting for him resembles “a cat in a bag,” which
is a Ukrainian idiom referring to choosing something blindly.

Zenon Zawada: So far,
Zelenskiy’s statements on Russia fully conform with the Western position. So
the Poroshenko campaign’s attacks against him as a “Kremlin agent” don’t
reflect his official positions. At the same time, we can’t help but think that
Putin and his point men on Ukraine were thrilled with Zelenskiy’s triumphant
result on Sunday, which now numbers 30.22% of votes (with 99.89% counted),
nearly doubling Poroshenko’s 15.95% result. A Zelenskiy presidency will advance
the Kremlin’s goal of inciting further destabilization in Ukraine.

The two Russian-oriented parties, the Opposition Bloc
and the Opposition Platform For Life, are already positioning themselves for
the October parliamentary elections. Regardless of who becomes president, they
will be arguing for immediate compromise/capitulation with the Kremlin (though
not necessarily wanting to implement that position). Even if Zelenskiy decides
to opt for compromise/capitulation, we don’t think he will do that before
October.