“Pass the aggressor’s side.” Turchinov commented on Fokin’s statement on Donbass

The statements of the deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on the solution of the situation in Donbass, Vitold Fokin, on the need to grant a special status to the entire Donbass indicate his anti-state position.

This opinion was expressed on August 30 on Facebook by the former secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, Alexander Turchinov.

The statement of the president’s representative in the trilateral contact group, Vitold Fokin, on the need to grant a special status to the entire Donbass, as well as that “both sides have committed crimes” is not just a manifestation of senile morass. [президента Украины Владимира] Zelensky on the side of the aggressor country and extending an anti-state position that reflects strategic interests [президента РФ Владимира] Putin, “he wrote.

The former secretary of the NSDC asked the question: “Do the Fokins, Kravchuks and those behind them hope that Ukraine will give Putin all the Donbass, which the Russian troops could not capture by force?”

“If Fokin and [руководитель украинской делегации в ТКГ Леонид] Kravchuk will not be immediately withdrawn from the TCG and no criminal proceedings will be opened against them, this will mean that they are expressing the agreed theses of “green power”. In this case, this will require an adequate response to these events by millions of Ukrainians who are ready to defend their country, “Turchynov said.

Zelensky appointed Fokin as Kravchuk’s first deputy in the Ukrainian delegation to the talks in Minsk on August 18. Fokin was the first prime minister of independent Ukraine and led the government in 1990-1992.

In 2014, immediately after the annexation of Crimea, Russia launched an armed aggression in eastern Ukraine. The fighting is between the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on the one hand, and the Russian army and the Russian-backed militants who control parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, on the other. The Russian Federation does not officially recognize its invasion of Ukraine, despite the facts and evidence presented by Ukraine.

The Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on a special procedure for local self-government in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in September 2014 (the need for such legislation is set out in the Minsk agreements on the settlement of the conflict in Donbass). Parliament has already extended its validity several times, the previous time, until December 31, 2019. On December 18, Zelensky signed a law to extend the special status until December 31, 2020.

In art. 10 of this law states that all its main provisions will come into force only after local elections are held in Donbass in accordance with Ukrainian legislation in accordance with international standards. The rest of the articles of the law do not apply, in particular: on amnesty and the non-admission of criminal prosecution of the participants in the Donbass events; on the right to linguistic self-determination of Donbass residents and the possibility of using the Russian language in state and local government bodies.

After the summit of the leaders of the Normandy Four – Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany – in December 2019, Putin announced the need to amend the Constitution of Ukraine, ensuring the special status of Donbass “permanently”. Zelensky said the current law on Donbass special status should be extended for one year. He stressed that he would never agree to the federalization of Ukraine.