MOSCOW. Dec 3 (Interfax) - Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov has said he does not believe that the Normandy-format summit due on December 9 will be a success.
"Personally, I am not hopeful about these talks," Zyuganov said at a press conference at the Interfax head office on Tuesday.
"Who needs this? Macron needs it, because Merkel is departing, while he is rising at the top of Europe's Olympus. Therefore, this meeting is interesting for him. [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky needs it, he'll say hello and talk to them. However, they have nothing to offer there. So, all of them will leave it sticking to their positions, while the situation continues to rot," he said.
"Zelensky is a good guy, but he's no ace," Zyuganov said.
The Ukrainian president should decide what he wants in politics, he said.
"What [questions] is he going to take there? 'What about returning our border?' Give the border back to who? To those scum who are shooting at Donbas every day? They'll kill the ones who are left tomorrow [...] I'm sure that Putin understands that if Donbas is surrendered, his rating will plummet lower than Yeltsin's," Zyuganov said.
"I would have recognized Donbas a long time ago, both Donetsk and Luhansk," he said.
The Russian president "is facing the task of helping and building up allied relations with the Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarussians, and it is necessary to protect the Russian language to this end," Zyuganov said.
The Normandy Four summit aimed at the settlement of the Donbas crisis is scheduled to take place in Paris on December 9. The leaders of Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and France are expected to participate.