Moscow has already made a decision, as evidenced by the massive political pressure on Ukraine since July 9

We can judge the conversation between Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Volodymyr Putin from two documents – the Kremlin press release, which was issued first shortly after the conversation, and the press release from the Office of the President of Ukraine.

The Kremlin press release is absolutely unprecedented, it breaks all the rules of the diplomatic protocol. Starting from the second paragraph, this is a rough pull on the person with whom Putin is talking. For example, why did the Rada pass such a law when Zelensky’s deeds correspond to his words? This is a demonstrative boorish trick and part of the rude pressure on Ukraine, which began with the famous interview with the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation and curator for Donbass Dmitry Kozak on July 9 , in which he said that he wanted to bang his fist on the table, that Ukraine should do what Moscow considers it necessary under the Minsk agreements.

A worthy response was given to this insolent Kozak ultimatum, even three – speeches by NSDC Secretary Aleksey Danilov, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Reznikov and a devastating response by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba . They noted this unacceptable tone and showed that the problem lies in Moscow’s failure to comply with the basic requirement of the Minsk ceasefire agreements.

In a press release from the Office of the President, Zelensky continues to talk about Moscow’s ” Wishlist”: the special status of Donbass, changes in the Constitution. And at the end, again, as if he had an obsession, he hopes for the next meeting in the Normandy format. It seems to me that Zelensky’s conversation undermined that worthy response of Ukrainian diplomacy to Kozak’s ultimatum of July 9. After that, the conversation between Zelensky and Putin looks absolutely pathetic.

In Zelensky’s team, which determines and dictates his actions, there are people, in my opinion, working for Moscow. For example, the treacherous activities of the head of the OP, Andriy Yermak, began on June 12, 2019, when he first signed a unilateral protocol with Vladislav Surkov, according to which Ukraine takes on some obligations that do not arise from the Minsk agreements. This is Steinmeier’s formula. Then he forced Zelensky himself to sign the document in Paris . The highest achievement is the signing of an agreement with Kozak on the establishment of an Advisory Council . This angered civil society and the agreement was thwarted, which is still extremely annoying for Moscow. In his ultimatum, Kozak wrote, they say, until mid-March we had hopes, everything was going constructively.

It can be seen that there are two lines in the Ukrainian leadership itself . One is a very clear position, expressed immediately after Kozak’s ultimatum. The bottom line is that Moscow periodically breaks down ceasefire agreements, and the shelling is part of its political pressure on Ukraine.

In fact, Moscow says: “If you do not accept our political conditions, if you do not legalize our military-terrorist foothold in the Ukrainian legal field, we will shoot at the border.” The language of Moscow is completely understandable.

This was brazen and more frank than ever, Peskov confirmed the day after another ceasefire agreement. He said that Moscow does not take responsibility and does not guarantee a ceasefire, although everyone understands that all this is being done by Moscow puppets on direct orders from the Kremlin.

The second line is people who oppose the aforementioned position, people close to Zelensky on a personal level ( Ermak and Kolomoisky), on whom he depends psychologically.

Moscow has already made a decision, as evidenced by the massive political pressure on Ukraine since July 9. The goal has not changed – depriving Ukraine of its sovereignty and its complete submission. It does not dare to take direct military action, because it understands that in the current international situation it will be met with the so-called ” hellish sanctions” of Washington and the entire West. Moscow wants to achieve its goal – the surrender of Ukraine by the hands of the Ukrainian leadership, and will continue to do so by all means.

(c) HB