Peskov: Putin said from the very beginning that Kyiv was playing for time with the help of the Minsk agreements

Russian President Vladimir Putin said from the very beginning that Kyiv does not want to comply with the Minsk agreements and is playing for time, his press secretary Dmitry Peskov recalled Putin’s words.

“I believe in the sincerity and wisdom of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who from the very beginning said that Ukraine was playing for time, that Ukraine did not want to fulfill the Minsk obligations, and he called on all countries to confirm their signatures with actions,” the presidential press secretary said on air Channel One.

He added that the rest of the states “kept up” the situation, their inaction “has consequences now.”

December 7, ex-Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel in an interview with Die Zeit newspaper statedthat “everyone understood” that the Minsk agreements only froze the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but did not solve it. According to her, the 2014 agreements gave Kyiv “priceless time.”

The words of the ex-Chancellor of Germany were commented by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova. She is named Merkel’s statement “an application for a tribunal.” According to her, such a confession was made for the first time and only confirmed what [российские власти] have been talking for years.”

The Trilateral Contact Group (authorized by Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE) in September 2014 signed the first Minsk agreements, which ended the active part of the hostilities in the south-east of Ukraine. The second Minsk agreements stopped the escalation of the conflict in February 2015 in the Debaltseve region.

The Minsk package of measures included a ceasefire in the southeast of the country, the withdrawal of weapons, an amnesty, the resumption of economic ties, as well as a constitutional reform in Ukraine. Its result was to be the decentralization of power in Ukraine, taking into account the granting of a special status to certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

However, the Ukrainian authorities did not fulfill their obligations under the agreements. On February 22, 2022, Russia recognized the independence of the DNR and LNR. Putin said that the Minsk agreements were “killed” long before that. After the republic was recognized, they turned to the Russian Federation for military assistance “on the basis of articles 3 and 4 of the treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between the Russian Federation and the republics.”

On February 24, Russia launched a special operation in Ukraine. Putin called the protection of the inhabitants of Donbass, as well as the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, its goals. During the special operation, Russian troops took control of the LPR, as well as most of the DPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Subsequently, these territories became part of Russia, and on October 19 martial law was introduced in the regions.