Former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, Yevgeny Muraev, on the air of the NASH TV channel suggested that Europe may soon lift sanctions against Russia.
In his opinion, this decision by the Western leaders will probably be prompted by Ukraine’s refusal to comply with the Minsk agreements. The politician recalled that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not carry out a constitutional reform, which implies the decentralization of power and the adoption of a permanent law on the special status of Donbass.
“The law on amnesty has not been made either, elections have not been held in Donbass,” Muraev said.
The ex-parliamentarian explained that the economic restrictions against Russia hit the EU commodity producers, who receive “tens of billions” less.
“Why should European taxpayers who vote for political parties, including Angela Merkel’s party, have to incur losses, and their power should remain inactive? That is, they come to politicians in the same way and say:“ If you will not end this nonsense with Russia, if we don’t start supplying our products there, we will no longer vote for you. <…> Believe me, they don’t care about Ukraine”, the politician concluded.
Relations between Moscow and Western countries have deteriorated in connection with the events in Ukraine and the reunification of Crimea with Russia after the referendum on the peninsula. The West accused Moscow of interfering in the internal affairs of Kiev and imposed sanctions against it. Russia, in turn, retaliated and embarked on a course of import substitution.
Russia has repeatedly stated that it is counterproductive to speak with it in the language of sanctions, emphasizing that it does not act as a party to the conflict in Ukraine and a subject of the Minsk agreements on the settlement.
In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR, which declared independence after the coup d’etat in Kiev in February 2014. According to the latest UN data, about 13 thousand people became victims of the conflict. The issue of resolving the situation in Donbass is being discussed, among other things, during the meetings in Minsk of the contact group, which since September 2014 has already adopted three documents regulating steps to de-escalate the conflict. However, even after the armistice agreements between the parties to the conflict, shootings continue.