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GISMETEO.RU
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Nation    

Ukrainians reject Pinchuk peace proposal
Journal Staff Report

KIEV, Jan. 5 - Ukraine on Thursday rejected a controversial proposal from one of its billionaires for peace in its eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk that had echoed Moscow’s plan for reversing the country’s foreign policy away from the West.

Kostyantyn Yelisieiev, a deputy chief of staff at the administration of President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine will seek peace, but will not abandon its pro-Western foreign policy and will never accept annexation of Crimea.

“I cannot agree with the appeal for compromises based on worries,” Yelisieiev wrote in a letter published by The Wall Street Journal. “Fear and weakness are bad advisers. They play into Russia’s appetites, invite even more aggression and greater human suffering.”

Yeliseiev responded to an article by the steel industry tycoon Viktor Pinchuk published by The Wall Street Journal on December 30, 2016 and calling on Ukraine to accept Russia’s political demands in exchange for peace.

Pinchuk is the son in law of former President Leonid Kuchma, who is the top Ukrainian negotiator in Minsk on ending the military hostilities in Donetsk and Luhansk.

Pinchuk, who also has business interests in Russia and other countries and who lives in London, suggested that Ukraine should quit the idea of joining NATO and the European Union, and accept wide political autonomy of Donetsk and Luhansk, while at the same time also stop demanding an immediate return of Crimea.

Yeliseiev wrote: “Let us be clear about red lines that no one in Ukraine would dare to cross—not now, nor in the future:

“No reversal in European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. This would be a surrender of independence, sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine. It would be like a return to the Soviet past in Ukraine—something, even Mr. Pinchuk wouldn’t welcome. Renouncing European integration would be political suicide for every politician in Ukraine who would dare call for such a dramatic reversal, especially after the Revolution of Dignity and its demand for modernization and reform.

“No trade in the territory of Ukraine, be it Donbas or Crimea. These territories cannot be part of a trade-off for peace. They belong to Ukraine, and this is confirmed internationally—including by the U.N. General Assembly Resolution on Crimea last month and by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in November. Ukraine will never abandon the Ukrainians who were trapped behind the Iron Curtain of Russia’s military invasion in Crimea and Donbas.

“No elections in Donbas with Russian boots on Ukraine’s soil. Ukraine stands for local elections there, but only based on Ukraine’s law and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe standards. The Kremlin would definitely like to legalize its hybrid occupation and puppet regimes in Donbas by Ukrainian hands. No one should fall into this trap.

“Compromises on Russia’s terms are the wrong policy. As one of the new U.S. administration’s heavyweights once said: “history teaches that weakness arouses evil.” This has never led to sustainable peace nor saved lives. On the contrary, it has always fueled more aggression and human suffering,” Yeliseiev said. (tl/ez)




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