Vladislav Surkov is a former adviser to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, known as the author of the concept of “vertical power”, the state power dependent only on Vladimir Putin, the architect of the “Minsk Agreements” (2014/2015), who intended to lead. to the settlement of the conflict in Donbas – he admitted in an interview with the director of the Center for the Political Situation in Moscow, Oleksiy Chesnakov, that from the beginning he did not count on the implementation of these documents, in the development of which he participated. on behalf of Moscow, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported on Thursday, as quoted by the Agerpres agency.

The published interview consists of four questions to which the former adviser to the president answers “yes” or “no”. When asked whether, while working on the Minsk agreements, he assumed that they should be implemented, Surkov answered: “No.”

In this context, Chesnakov recalled that a week before the start of the “special military operation” in Ukraine (as Moscow calls its aggression against Ukraine), Surkov predicted the expansion of the western border of the Russian Federation.

The former adviser to the president – the main strategist of the Kremlin in the Ukrainian crisis of 2014-2020, when he was fired – said in the mentioned interview that he was satisfied “with the way it was done”, namely the expansion of the borders by annexing four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk and Luhansk (in the east), Kherson and Zaporizhzhya (in the south).

In agreement with his former boss Vladimir Putin, Vladyslav Surkov, who until recently was considered a gray elite of the Kremlin, also believes that the Russian army is operating in Ukraine “effectively”.

When asked about the possibility of normalizing relations between Russia and the West in the near future, Surkov answered in the affirmative, Vedomosti noted.

What is provided by the Minsk agreements

In September 2014, the tripartite contact group (which includes representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE) signed the first Minsk agreements, which put an end to the intense hostilities in eastern Ukraine.

The second agreement in Minsk stopped the escalation of the conflict in February 2015 near Debaltseve (Donbas), where Ukrainian troops were surrounded after Moscow sent regular troops to help the separatists, signed with the mediation of Germany and France, the Ukrainian publication notes. Observer.

On December 7, 2022, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview with Die Zeit that “everyone understood” that the Minsk agreements only froze the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but did not resolve it.

The Kremlin and Russian propaganda widely speculated on his claim that the deals gave Kyiv “priceless time”, arguing that Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande (then president of France) sought to give Ukraine time to arm itself.

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko recently told the press in his country that he signed the Minsk Agreement in 2015 in the hope that (Vladimir) Putin would keep his word and his troops would secure the corridor through which the Ukrainian military surrounded Debaltseve. could calmly go out. However, during the retreat, Russian troops opened fire on Ukrainian troops, Poroshenko noted.

“Ask Surkov what he meant”

In their justifications for launching a large-scale invasion against Ukraine, the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin himself repeatedly stated that it was the fault of Ukraine, which did not fulfill the Minsk agreements.

In a recent statement, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, assessed that the Minsk agreements were initially initiated by the West as a concession to Russia, and that they cannot be implemented without Ukraine losing its territories.

Commenting on Surkov’s statements about the Minsk Agreements on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov said that the main goal of the Minsk Agreements is “to force Kyiv to fulfill its obligations,” Ukrainian Pravda reports.

“Of course, the main task was to force Kyiv to fulfill its obligations. Now we understand that no one was going to do this. Therefore, it is better to ask Surkov in detail what he meant,” Peskov said at the press conference.

• Read also: Zelensky excludes the cession of territories in a potential peace agreement / Lukashenko’s answer

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