Russian diplomats criticize Ukraine for failing on Minsk Accords

Ukraine and Russia haven’t made any progress in
reaching a resolution to the war in Donbas as the former isn’t fulfilling
virtually any of its Minsk Accords obligations, the Russian Permanent
Representative to the OSCE Aleksandr Lukashevich said in his address to the
OSCE on Feb. 6, as reported by the press service of the Russian Foreign
Ministry. He criticized Ukrainian authorities for continuing to make
suggestions to amend the Minsk Accords, as well as continue to suggest
proposals that allegedly violate them, including transferring control of the
border before local elections and refusal to engage in a total withdrawal of
forces from the separation line. “In this regard, the weak pace of fulfilling
the requirements of the Normandy Summit in Paris regarding the agreed upon
three additional withdrawal sites by the end of March is not surprising,”
he said. Not sparing in his criticism, Lukashevich also cited as a violation
Ukraine still listing as criminals those political and war prisoners released
to Donbas, rather than granting them amnesty. He also repeated the Kremlin line
of the rights of Russian speakers being violated.

The Russian government won’t transfer control of its
border with the self-declared republics ahead of local elections, said on Feb.
10 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, citing the alleged inability of the
Zelensky administration to control “people under neo-Nazi banners.” It’s for
this reason that Moscow can’t consider alternative proposals to the Minsk
Accords being proposed by Ukraine to resolve the warfare in Donbas, he said.
“Even members of the new government, and deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the
new convocation, have been saying that a scenario of force can’t ever be ruled
out. That way, we can forget about a special status, elections and everything
else further on. The local population there will simply be crushed,” Lavrov
said in a television interview.

Zenon Zawada: So far, a
Normandy Format meeting in April is not in the cards. But we don’t know what’s
happening behind the scenes. Moreover, there’s still a month or two to make
progress. We still believe it’s possible – about 67% likely – the Zelensky
administration will try to make concessions to make the April meeting happen.
But it’s also possible it’s more politically expedient to give up on an April
meeting and continue to resist Russian pressure. Overall, it’s a very delicate
situation for the Zelensky administration’s public support that could easily
begin to unravel with any careless step.

Besides pressuring Ukraine, Lukashevich’s speech
could also serve as a pretext to a Russian military expansion in Ukraine, with
ongoing references to radicals, nationalists, neo-Nazism, xenophobia and
anti-Semitism. This type of rhetoric is aimed at providing justifications for
any future aggression among Western audiences, who have been sensitized to such
matters in their own societies. We are also confident these Russian diplomats
are embellishing the threats and risks in Ukraine to maintain Russia’s
advantage in its negotiating position.