Putin Trapped Himself in Donbas – Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk
Russian President Vladimir Putin has driven himself into a political trap and, when it comes to Donbas, the only choice he has is to sacrifice himself for Russia and the world, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said today at the 12th Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting.
Yatsenyuk voiced his position on Russia with passion: "Putin personally gave the order to bring up to 40,000 Russian troops into Donetsk and Luhansk. If some kind of a miracle happens and Putin decides to withdraw, I cannot imagine how he would address the Russian people and what he would say in his address. Putin himself created a political trap, where he has no solutions.”
He added: “If Putin says that we pull out of Donetsk and Luhansk, he might as well sacrifice himself Russia. If he attacks the Ukrainian army and tries to capture more territories, he will die. Essentially, this is a dead end," he said.
Yatsenyuk said that he was skeptical about the Minsk agreement, but realized that those were the only agreements available at the moment.
The Ukrainian prime minister stressed that the world must be tougher in its demands on Russia with regard to the implementation of the Minsk arrangements, as Ukraine fulfilled its obligations completely.
"If you have different messages for Putin, if you say that you cancel sanctions, if something small happens, it is a sign of weakness. And, in fact, it is a demonstration of support for Putin in his aggression... The sanctions can be removed only in one case: when the Minsk arrangements are fully implemented and Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea return to Ukraine," Yatsenyuk said.
The prime minister also drew attention to Syria and the refugee crisis: “Who is supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria? It is Putin. Can you remind me who is setting up a military base in Syria now? It is President Putin. Do you understand that this is the plan to destabilize the political situation?"
The 12th Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting is streamed live at yes-ukraine.org as well as web-sites of the Media Partners in English and Ukrainian.
The official Twitter of the 12th YES Annual Meeting is @yes_ukraine, and participants and followers can include the hashtag: #YESUkraine2015.
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