TCG: The goal of the Minsk process for Russia is to weaken Ukraine

For Russia, the goal of the Minsk process is to freeze the conflict and weaken Ukraine.

The representative of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG, journalist Serhii Harmash, told about it in an interview with the Skhidnyi Variant.

"For Russia, the goal of the Minsk process is not to resolve the conflict but to freeze it and weaken Ukraine with this conflict. Therefore, we must also use Minsk as a diplomatic tool to influence our adversary. To do this, we must consider it as a whole.

Russia constantly imposes a set of measures on us to implement the Minsk agreements. It's the one that was signed in 2015. But the name itself suggests that we already signed the Minsk agreements before this document. I refer to the protocol of September 2014 and the relevant memorandum. If we open this protocol following the meeting of Putin and Poroshenko with the OSCE mediation, there are no representatives of ORDLO as such at all. But there, in paragraph 1, we're talking about a bilateral ceasefire, and in paragraph 4, about creating a security zone in the border areas of Ukraine and Russia. That is, on the territory of two states. After that, we can no longer say that we have an internal conflict. That's why Russia is trying to forget 'Minsk-1' in every possible way, although 'Minsk-2' is a set of measures to implement the Minsk agreements," he explained.

On March 30, the Verkhovna Rada approved a statement demanding that the Russian Federation cease hostilities immediately and adhere to a ceasefire, and call on the world community to continue and increase political and economic pressure on Russia to end its aggression against Ukraine.

During a TCG meeting, Leonid Kravchuk proposed to resume a comprehensive ceasefire from April 1, but Russia refused.

Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ruslan Khomchak stated in the Verkhovna Rada that there were up to 60,000 soldiers in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, and huge Russian army forces were concentrated on the Russian-Ukrainian border.

Khomchak also stated that Ukraine was ready to march on Donbas. However, before that, it's necessary to assess the risks and calculate the strengths and capabilities of the Ukrainian state and army.