Opinion: Idea to reformat Minsk agreements is nothing but but grandstanding

Director of the Ukrainian Institute for Analysis and Policy Management Ruslan Bortnik finds prospectless the idea to reshuffle the Minsk agreements on Donbass. He says the new roadmap for the peace settlement will be an imitation of settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Previously, Yuri Boyko, leader of the Opposition Bloc faction in the Ukrainian parliament, announced that to solve the Donbass conflict reformatting of the Minsk agreements is needed and a new roadmap is to be drafted through phone talks of the Normandy Four (Ukraine, France, Germany, Russia).

“To draw a new roadmap on the existing roadmap is nothing but simulating peacemaking effort. Anyone can make self-promotion on it, but I do not think we should expect any serious progress on this track. Moreover, the second Minsk agreements are a resolution of the UN Security Council, and it would rather hard to go beyond its limits. As the presidential elections in Russia and Ukraine will be held in 2018 and 2019, I do not think there is basis for peaceful settlement before it,” Bortnik said.

As EADaily reported earlier, in late July, after a three-months pause, the presidents of Ukraine, France and the chancellor of Germany had a phone talk and discussed the Donbass settlement. They agreed that their aides would meet in the second half of August. According to the Kremlin press office, the sides exchanged views on the situation in south-eastern Ukraine after failures in the Minsk agreements implementation.