KIEV, September 29. /TASS/. The Kiev government’s first deputy envoy to the Contact Group on Donbass reconciliation, Vitold Fokin, said on Tuesday he saw no reasons to assert that the hostilities in Eastern Ukraine were, in fact, a conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
"I don’t see any fact confirming that there is a war between Russia and Ukraine," he told the country’s Strana news portal after a meeting with members of the Ukrainian parliament.
Fokin added that Russia has never called for anything that goes beyond the Minsk Agreements.
"Russia demands exactly what the Minsk Agreements say - to hold elections in Donbass," the Ukrainian negotiator said, adding that this package deal remains the only way toward a peaceful settlement of the conflict. "There is no alternative to the Minsk Agreements, although they draw a lot of criticism."
Moreover, during a meeting with lawmakers he once again called for a total amnesty for all participants of the Donbass conflict.
"The amnesty will make sense only when it is general. It will demoralize the adversary and save the lives of our soldiers," Fokin said.
He blamed Ukraine’s ex-president Pyotr Poroshenko for the stalled peace process.
"The almost five-year-long stalemate was caused by two factors: firstly, the Minsk Agreements are not a legislative act and, therefore, they are non-binding. But, frankly, the main reason is that the guarantor of the constitution (ex-president Pyotr Poroshenko - TASS) was more concerned about his own clout and power, than about his people. I do not even mention how profitable a military conflict might be," Fokin said.