MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. The position of President Vladimir Zelensky’s team in regards to the Minsk agreements is in no way different from that of former President Pyotr Poroshenko’s team, Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov said in comments on the Normandy Four summit in Paris as quoted by head of the Russian Center for Current Politics Alexei Chesnakov, close to the process of negotiations.
"I can confirm that at a congress of the Union of Donbass Volunteers, held in Moscow on Saturday, Vladislav Surkov stated that the position of Zelensky’s team concerning the Minsk agreements is in no way different from the position of Poroshenko’s team. He said this personally to me as well," Chesnakov said.
"During the Paris summit, Ukrainians reiterated the old unacceptable ideas of the former team - passing over the border control before the elections, disarming people’s militias," he said.
Kiev also reiterated that "enshrining a special status in the constitution is impossible, that the disengagement of forces along the entire contact line is impossible, that Kiev is ready to conduct direct negotiations with representatives of Donbass, however not with those who are in Donetsk, but with those who have left for Kiev - in other words direct negotiations between Kiev and Kiev. And so on," he went on to say.
"Of course, differences could be seen in form. This is what (Kremlin spokesman) Dmitry Peskov has said. However, nothing has changed in essence. Poroshenko of yesterday is what Zelensky is today. Bad inheritance, as Surkov put it," he added.
Minsk peace deal
Peace settlement of the conflict in Donbass rests on the Package of Measures, known as Minsk-2, that was signed by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising senior representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the European security watchdog OSCE on February 12, 2015, after marathon 16-hour talks between the leaders of the Normandy Four nations, namely Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine. The 13-point document envisages a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and people’s militias in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk and subsequent withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of engagement. The deal also lays out a roadmap for a lasting settlement in Ukraine, including amnesty, resumption of economic ties, local elections and a constitutional reform to give more autonomy to the war-torn eastern regions.
The document was approved and supported in a joint declaration signed by the Russian, Ukrainian and French presidents and the German chancellor. In the declaration, they pledged to exert their influence over the sides in question so as to facilitate the implementation of the Package of Measures. Later, the Package of Measures was approved in Resolution 2202 of the United Nations Security Council, which urged all the concerned parties to ensure its full implementation.