ESay
Gold Member
- Mar 14, 2015
- 9,151
- 1,939
Because if you want full and literal fulfillment of an agreement, it is understandable that the other part demands the same from you.No, I do not understand why Debaltsevo matters so much: it's just one of 100+ settlements which both sides have to withdraw from. And according to Minsk agreements it should be done a lot sooner that 10 years (which Zelensky has suggested).Actually, you understand nothing. According to the Minsk agreements the pullback should be done from the frontline as of September 2014. According to this frontline the city of Debaltsevo belongs to the government held territory. If we are talking about the pullback from the entire frontline, then when the rebels will get out from the city and the surrounding area?
Putin, on the contrary, wants to stay with Minsk agreements without revising them.
Putin: There is nothing more important than the Minsk Agreements. Of course, I was worried by the statement made by President Zelensky after he left Paris to the effect that they could be revised. If we revise the Minsk Agreements, the settlement process will hit a dead end, because the main element of the Minsk Agreements is a law on the special status of Donbass, which must be formalised in the Ukrainian Constitution. It has been extended for a year, but not permanently, although we keep saying – not only do I, but the other Normandy format leaders say so as well – that the law must be of unlimited duration and that its formula must be incorporated in the Constitution. However, it appears that neither the previous nor the current Ukrainian leadership wants this. But there is no way around it. This is the first point.
Vladimir Putin’s annual news conference
Putin: Mr Zelensky and I have different positions on this issue. Our position is very simple: we stand for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements. The Minsk Agreements say – you can read it for yourself – that Ukraine will be able to start restoring control over that territory, over that section of the border on day one after the local elections. This is what it says. And this process should end after the completion of a comprehensive political settlement. This is what the text of the agreement says. Why should the Minsk Agreements be reopened and revised? All the measures set out in that package are interconnected. If we revise one of them, this will lead to the revision of others and we will lose the agreements and create a situation where nothing can be done. This is our logic, and I believe that it is justified.
Joint news conference following a Normandy format summit
Except of that, Debaltsevo is an important transportation center. Holding it has virtually a strategic importance for the government.