MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/. Russia was doing its utmost to prevent war and defend the rights of Donbass residents when the coup d'etat took place in Ukraine and nationalists came to power, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a youth audience at the Terra Scientia forum.
"When the coup happened in Ukraine in 2014, and it was exactly a coup d'etat, when the nationalists began to take over and when Donbass refused to co-exist with them when it realized that the power of the nationalists was being established, it was a very dramatic moment," Peskov said. "Russia [then] did its utmost to prevent war. Russia did everything in a bid to reach a peace settlement of this problem and to defend the rights of Donbass and its residents by political and diplomatic methods."
Peskov recalled that "as a result of very difficult, titanic negotiations" the Minsk agreements were signed. "It was the product of a very complex balance of agreements and a diplomatic success of our country," he noted, pointing out that the step-by-step implementation of the agreements at that moment "would have prevented war and would have allowed the people of Donbass to live under special conditions with special rights and to determine their future themselves through elections and referendums."
Peskov also recalled that France’s former president, Francois Hollande and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said late last year that "they were not going to fulfill anything" under the Minsk agreements. "But we did not know that, we were on the way to implement these agreements, we were trying to force Ukraine to follow the path of the agreements in order to avoid war," the Kremlin spokesman stressed.
He drew attention to the fact that "2019 was the time when we (Russia - TASS) adhered to these Minsk agreements, and then it was really an intra-Ukrainian problem."
"Yes, it was really so," Peskov emphasized. "But then, when it became clear that no one was going to implement the Minsk agreements, when it became clear that Ukraine was preparing for war, when it became clear that NATO military advisers were already there, when it became clear that Kiev was actually a puppet in the hands of, first of all, Washington, when it became clear that this very war could not be avoided, then the events took the current course," he said.
About the Minsk agreements
The Minsk agreements were supposed to be the basis for a settlement in Donbass. They were signed on February 12, 2015. However, Kiev delayed the peace process for years and refused to implement them. Later it declared the unacceptability of the political part of this package, as well as categorically refused to enter into a direct dialog with the Donbass republics. The agreements were mediated by the OSCE, Russia, Germany and France.
In December 2022, in an interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the conclusion of the Minsk agreements as an attempt to give Ukraine time to become stronger. She said it was clear to everyone that the conflict was frozen and the problem was not solved, it just let Ukraine gain time. Later, Hollande, who was also involved in agreeing a set of measures to implement the Minsk agreements in 2015, confirmed Merkel's words.