Resolving the war in Donbas becoming more difficult, Peskov says

Resolving the war in Donbas is becoming more difficult
with the passing of time, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov
said in a television interview broadcast on Dec. 27, as reported by the tass.ru
news site. “The issue is an internal Ukrainian conflict. Neither Russia, nor
France, nor Germany are participants or sides in this conflict. And Russia,
Germany and France are doing everything possible to help Ukraine resolve this conflict.
The further the situation unfolds, the more complicated the resolution becomes.
The passivity of Kyiv in reaching decisions was visible to the unguarded eye,
both in Paris and in Berlin. And disappointment in many moments of this
situation hasn’t been hidden both in Paris and in Berlin,” Peskov said.

The Ukrainian government hasn’t been making attempts
at contact recently, Peskov said. “Now no one in particular has been calling.
The process of fulfilling these very agreements, which were agreed upon in
Paris, and the fulfillment of the Minsk complex of measures has not skidded.
Because some individual points were truly fulfilled. But on the whole, what’s
most important is that no one even pursued them,” Peskov said.

Ukrainian President Zelensky acknowledged that he
hasn’t called Russian President Putin recently, explaining that there is no
subject for discussion in an interview with the focus.ua news site published on
Dec. 25. Zelensky also admitted that he would abandon the Minsk Accords personally,
but he can’t do that because that could prompt the West to gradually remove its
sanctions from Russia. The meeting of Normandy Four top advisers, which was
supposed to occur in December, won’t happen in the nearest future, Zelensky
said. Yet on Dec. 28, Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak told reporters
that such a meeting of advisers would occur in January in order to prepare for
a meeting of the leaders.

Zelensky signed on Dec. 24 the bill to extend for a year
the law on the special order of self-governance in separate districts of the
Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as reported by the rada.gov.ua web site. The
measure has been approved by parliament and signed by the president annually
for the last three years to meet legal requirements.

Zenon Zawada: We have
said for several years now that the Kremlin has the upperhand in the conflict
and little incentive to agree to a ceasefire. This is despite the Western
sanctions, which haven’t achieved the Russian capitulation that they intended.
Given that few of the fundamentals in the conflict have changed in the last
year, we expect more of the same in 2021. We share the viewpoint of the
pro-Western Ukrainian establishment that Russia is primarily responsible for the
war in Donbas, despite its persistent claims of a “domestic conflict.” We see
no possibility for a peace deal at the moment.

On a side note, Zelensky seemed to have made a PR faux
pas when admitting that no meeting of top advisers was scheduled for January.
It has been the strategy of Yermak to at least create the impression for the
public that the Presidential Office is actively pursuing peace and making
achievements along that path (particularly with prisoner exchanges). So he saw
the need to correct the president in claiming a meeting of advisers is
scheduled for January.