Ukrainian peace negotiator in Minsk dismissed

Roman Bezsmertniy, among the Ukrainian diplomats to
the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk, was dismissed on Aug. 13 by Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky. Bezsmertniy had served as Ukraine’s
representative to the political group to resolve the war in Donbas for various
periods during the duration of the conflict, being reinstated by Zelensky on
July 9. In commenting on the decision, the President’s Office stated that
Ukraine’s lead negotiator, former President Leonid Kuchma, will be organizing a
more effective team, the pravda.com.ua news site reported.

In his turn, Bezsmertniy said he was dismissed because
of recent statements that diverged from the president’s position on the war in
Donbas and related peace talks. In particular, he cited his view that the Minsk
peace talks should have ceased immediately upon the killing on four soldiers on
Aug. 6 in Pavlopil, a position the President’s Office didn’t support.
Bezsmertniy also criticized Zelensky’s telephone call to Russian President
Putin following the Pavlopil shooting, stressing that the president needs to
speak with Putin in “an abrupt enough and consistent” tone, as well as
Zelensky’s decision not to hold the military parade on Aug. 24 Independence
Day, as had been done since the start of the war in 2014.

Bezsmertniy compared President Zelensky to a mouse
being toyed with by a cat, in this case Russian President Putin, before his
ultimate demise, in a television interview broadcast on Aug. 13. “The current
situation is dangerous in that in his desire – and I believe in Zelensky’s
honest desire to improve things – he is falling into a trap, unfortunately. He
simply doesn’t understand who he’s dealing with,” Bezsmertniy said. “It’s his
conscious conviction that Putin can be some kind of an ally in this situation.
He looks like a mouse in this conflict, which trusted a cat. And this cat will
play with the mouse and punish him afterwards. That’s already obvious and
understood.”

Zenon Zawada: The Zelensky
administration is very suspicious of anyone with even modest ties to the
Poroshenko administration and is dismissing anyone who shows the slightest
disloyalty. This is apparent not only with Bezsmertniy, but also Kyiv Mayor
Vitali Klitschko, whom they view as a political rival to be gradually
eliminated. This is a natural process in the politics of any country.

What’s revealing about this incident is Bezsmertniy’s
view of Zelensky as a fool, in essence, being manipulated by Putin. We share
the widely held view that peace with Russia in Donbas can only come at the
expense of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration plans. The Zelensky
administration has made clear it thinks otherwise and will go to great lengths
to achieve a compromise between ending the warfare and continuing Euro-Atlantic
integration.

We believe the U.S. foreign policy team on Ukraine
won’t allow the Zelensky administration to reach any deal with Russia that will
compromise Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration. Zelensky risks the entire
package of Western support – including IMF loans and military aid – if he makes
a peace deal with Russia without Western approval. Just how Zelensky will deal
with the war in Donbas will be the main factor in determining the success or
failure of his presidency.