A well-known political expert believes that the scandalous decision of the Verkhovna Rada to cancel elections in Donbass is an attempt by Kiev to exacerbate the political game with Russia.
In an interview with Ukraina.ru, director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics Ruslan Bortnik said that despite the fact that the Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution that, in fact, in violation of the Minsk agreements, claims that elections in Donbass are possible only after the border is transferred under Kiev control, Ukraine is not going formally withdraw from the Minsk process.
“This does not mean rejection. This may mean a rate hike in political bargaining. This means that already Zelensky’s new team has actually confirmed the positions that Poroshenko’s previous team occupied in this part”, – the expert said.
According to Bortnik, this is nothing more than another “red line” that calms the nationalist electorate and does not allow moderate Ukrainian politicians to achieve at least some real progress in the negotiation process. Thus, the expert believes that Ukraine itself is placing a time bomb under the Minsk process, which will ultimately lead to the freezing of the negotiation process and the inevitable gradual withdrawal of Donbass under the jurisdiction of Russia, with its transformation into a kind of “Nagorno-Karabakh”.