Borys Tarasyuk: If it hadn't been for Minsk Agreements, Ukraine would have regained control over Donbas long ago

The Minsk Agreements became a smokescreen to cover Russia's aggression in Ukraine with the connivance of the Normandy Four countries.

Borys Tarasuyk, a former minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine and current member of the Verkhovna Rada from Batkivshchyna party, said it in an interview with charter97.org.

– Some Ukrainian politicians supports# the idea of the full blockade of Donbas because pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine continue to violate the peaceful agreements. This idea was recently proposed by former president Leonid Kravchuk, who called to give up the humiliating Minsk Agreement, carry out the demilitarisation of the delimitation line and suspend all relations with the problem region. Can this strategy be right, in your opinion?

– I'd like to say in the first place that Leonid Kravchuk expressed his private opinion, which is not the official position of the state. As for the main point of the idea, some politicians have such views, but most parliament members and the country's leadership don't share them.

The weak point of this idea is that it would be easier just to surrender the territory. I'd like to say that we cannot speak about the occupied territory because we don't have proofs that the territory is occupied only by Russia. This territory is not controlled by Ukrainian authorities due to acts by separatist terrorist groups in Donbas supported by mercenaries from Russia and regular troops of the Russian Federation.

We cannot speak about this territory as purely occupied like Abkhazia or South Ossetia. What we see is a rather difficult military and political situation with the main idea that local separatists and terrorist groups control a part of Ukraine's territory with the support of Russia that provides regular troops and weapons.

– If the full blockade is not a way out, what official line of conduct should Ukraine choose to regain control over the part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions?

– To begin with, we should make the definitions clear. If our definitions are the same, we can look for solutions. The absence of definitions or misleading take us away from the main question: how to solve the problem?

If we admit it, we can move further and answer the question: who committed the act of aggression? The answer is clear: this is Russia. Russia is the aggressor. It means that we must look for a solution to the conflict in opposing the aggressor state in the UN Security Council or outside it.

The UN Security Council is unable to solve the problem due to Russia's veto. In this situation, we can use the article of the Charter of the UN relating to the abstention of a Security Council member, including a permanent one, from voting if it is a party to a dispute.

Russia stubbornly refuses to recognise its involvement in the conflict, continuing to insist that it is not an interested party. If the whole world puts pressure and makes Russia admit itself a party to the conflict, it would automatically lose its veto power.

There are two ways outside the UN Security Council: political-diplomatic and military ones.

As for the military way, Ukrainian armed forces could have solved the problem and regained control of the state over the separatist territories long ago if it hadn't been for the Minsk Agreements. The problem is that the leading countries, including the US, Germany and France, try to bury their head in the sand and pretend the problem doesn't exist.

The Minsk Agreements would be a good option if Russia and terrorists implemented them. But they don't even try to do it. The “Minsk format” is a dead-end. At the same time, Ukraine is required to implement them, especially the political part, relating to amendments to the Constitution.

I'd like to remind you that the constitutional reform is the last requirement on the list that follows a number of paragraphs that cannot be implemented due to Russia: ceasefire; pull-out of heavy weapons; withdrawal of all illegal military groups, including Russian ones; restoring control of the border. The Minsk Agreements are a smokescreen to cover Russia's aggression with the connivance of the Normandy Four states.