The Minsk agreements are a political document and have not been ratified by any parliament
Ivan Sichen, an expert of the Independent Analytical Center for Geopolitical Studies “Borysfen Intel”, for Gazeta.ua
More than nine years ago, the first Minsk agreements were signed. They helped to stop the Russians’ advance, but in all other respects they were very disadvantageous. They marked the beginning of Russia’s full-scale offensive. New such agreements would be a betrayal of Ukraine. This was stated in a comment to Gazeta.ua by military expert Ivan Sichen.
“The Minsk agreements actually meant recognition of the so-called DPR and LPR, and letting Russian troops stay in the occupied territories. This was Russia’s first step towards the division of Ukraine. Step by step, Russians planned to continue this movement. It was assumed that their representatives would become part of the Ukrainian Parliament. And they would block decisions on European integration. For us, the only advantage was that the war was suspended. The second Minsk agreement was even worse than the first ones. But we were forced to accept it because of the great military threat from Russia. However, Moscow was already paving the way for large-scale aggression. It began to drag out the war and demand compliance with its terms. It demanded a special status for quasi-structures”, Ivan Sichen stressed.
The Russians were already preparing for a major offensive. Now, if the authorities want to make such agreements, it would be treason, the expert says.
“The Minsk agreements were a means for us to pause the war and prevent the destruction of Ukraine. Even though the Russians did not have forces large enough to implement it at that time. New deals like that would be a complete betrayal. As of now, Russia no longer has troops large enough to completely occupy us. Because while at the beginning, the Russian Federation outnumbered us, now it does not — we have modern weapons that are more effective. The Russians are now talking about negotiations when they start losing battles, losing territory. Any agreements on Moscow’s terms should be out of the question now”, Ivan Sichen added.
|
The Minsk agreements are usually understood as three documents: the Minsk Protocol of September 5, 2014, the Memorandum on its implementation of September 19, 2014, and the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Protocol of February 12, 2015. The Minsk agreements are a political document and have not been ratified by any parliament. One of them, the Package of Measures of February 2015, is mentioned in the UN Security Council Resolution. At this, for seven years, the first article of this document — a complete ceasefire — has not been implemented. |
Author: Anastasiia Prokaieva
Source: Gazeta.ua
The article is available in Russian
