Russia demands 50 years of

Russia demands 50 years of "special status" for Donbas – Ukrainian MP

Russia is once again disrupting the Minsk talks.

The Russian Federation wants Ukraine to adopt the so-called "special status" for Donbas for the next 50 years, says People's Deputy with the Servant of the People faction, Chairman of the Permanent Delegation of the Verkhovna Rada to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Yehor Chernev.

Russia is once again disrupting the Minsk talks on Donbas settlement, Chernev wrote on Facebook.

"The Russians now want changes to the [Ukrainian] Constitution, elections before handing back control of the border, and the special status of Donbas for 50 years. So, no matter what we offer them, they will always put forward unacceptable conditions and accuse us of being unprepared for negotiations," Chernev stressed.

In his opinion, Ukraine must admit it is impossible to return the Donbas territories by peaceful means because "there has never been a case in history that Russia voluntarily returned to anyone even a piece of seized land."

"And the Kremlin is well aware that, having regained Donbas, Ukraine and its allies will immediately move on to the issue of Crimea," Chernev reflects. "Therefore, they will come up with more and more reasons not to fulfill any agreements, and wait for a new chance to destroy Ukraine completely."

What should we do in such a situation? Indeed, the Minsk format is dysfunctional, but should we refuse further negotiations with Russia? No. Because with their help we show the whole world how unnegotiatiable the Kremlin is and how unwilling they are to achieve peace. And that there are reasons to demand introduction of new sanctions against Russia. Amid the pandemic, they have a much stronger effect. And, therefore, we never relax, we continue to negotiate and clean our machine guns in the meantime," the MP stressed.

Background

On November 5, the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group announced five main points of the new action plan for Donbas settlement.

On November 24, Russia's representative in the political working subgroup, Aleksey Dmitrievsky, said Moscow would support the plan formally submitted by their proxy forces in Donbas.

26 November 2020 / 11:46