MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) - Center for Current Politics Director Alexei Chesnakov has accused Ukrainian representative to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Leonid Kuchma of stalling the Donbas peace process.
Kuchma said at his meeting with a delegation of the European External Action Service (EEAS) that security should be addressed before political issues in settling the situation in eastern Ukraine.
"Leonid Kuchma stressed that resolution of security issues - in other words total ceasefire, removal of foreign armed groups and military hardware from Ukraine, and Ukraine regaining control over its border with Russia - should take priority. Only after that will be it possible to proceed to the political bloc," Kuchma's press secretary Darka Olifer wrote on Facebook.
The Minsk Agreements stipulate the synchronous resolution of security and political issues, Chesnakov told Interfax on Thursday.
"This is mandatory for any peace process, and it is odd that Kuchma either does not understand or does not want to understand that. Before anything is synchronized, it is necessary to show which political provisions Ukraine is planning to implement and how. Considering that the current proposals of Ukraine contravene the Minsk Agreements and have not been discussed with the Donbas republics, the latest 'creative suggestion' of Ukraine can be easily ignored," Chesnakov said.
In the expert's opinion, Kyiv will not be able to avoid the fulfillment of its obligations under the Minsk Package of Measures. "Kyiv should do the homework instead of 'being creative'. Or else the Steinmeier formula situation will repeat itself: they will sign it anyway but time will be wasted. Yet again this may be what Kuchma is trying to achieve. In that case, we need to know whether [Ukrainian] President Zelensky is aware that his representative in the Contact Group is 'personally stalling' the peace process and whether he bears responsibility for Kuchma's sabotage as the chief of state," Chesnakov said.