President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak announced on March 13 that Ukraine will officially enter into direct negotiations with Russian-led militants for the first time in the six years of war in the Donbas.
This drastically diverges from the country’s established policy of holding negotiations only with the aggressor state, Russia, and not legitimizing its proxies as independent entities by negotiating with them.
According to Yermak, an Advisory Council which will have equal representation from Ukraine and Russian-occupied territories will begin its work in the coming weeks. The council will discuss the implementation of peace agreements adopted in Minsk.
“We must agree our position with representatives of the non-controlled territories,” Yermak told journalists on March 13, sparking outrage among those in attendance.
According to Yermak, the sides agreed to create the council during the negotiations in Minsk on March 11. They will finalize its concept at the next Minsk meeting in the upcoming weeks.
The news was announced moments after the government declared that Ukraine would close its borders to foreign nationals due to the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing Yermak’s statement to escape major media attention.
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Multiple lawmakers from the presidential Servant of the People party publicly condemned the administration’s decision to hold direct talks with Russian-led militants.
Ukrainian law says that holding negotiations with Russian proxies in the Donbas is considered treason.
‘Doesn’t count’
Russia has long claimed that its proxies are in fact separate political entities, even though this theory was debunked by foreign governments, international institutions and watchdog organizations.
Earlier the same day, Ukrainian journalists leaked a document signed in Minsk on March 11, between representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The document agreed to four points – a future prisoner swap, the opening of two checkpoints between Ukraine and the occupied territories, greenlighting talks for a further disengagement of arms and combatants between Ukraine and the Russian proxies and the creation of a special Advisory Council that will discuss all the issues mentioned above.
The Advisory Council will consist of 10 representatives from Ukraine, 10 from the Russian-led militants and an additional representative each from four observers – the OSCE, France, Germany and Russia.
All decisions must be approved by three-quarters of the representatives. Their decisions are considered advisory and not legally binding.
Yermak said he thought that this didn’t count as Ukraine recognizing Russian militants as separate entities. After journalists alleged that, according to Ukrainian law, it is considered treason to hold direct talks with Russian proxies, Yermak went on a rant defending the agreement.
“There are no direct talks,” Yermak said. “We are talking about creating a platform where citizens living in controlled and non-controlled territories can communicate about issues that are agreed on in the Minsk Agreement package.”
When journalists asked how Ukrainians under occupation would get a say if Russia is known to permanently abuse human rights in regions it occupies, Yermak failed to elaborate.
Yermak said issues discussed by the soon-to-be-established Advisory Council include decentralization and elections in the occupied zone.
The elections are part of the so-called Steinmeier Formula, a plan on implementing peace agreements, that was agreed upon by the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia in Paris on Dec. 9 during the Normandy Format meeting. The plan envisions that the territories controlled by the Russian proxies will hold local elections under Ukrainian law in exchange for self-governance.
Public upheaval
Yermak’s comments come almost exactly six years after Russia began its war against Ukraine. Russia’s war took the lives of 13,000 people and injured over 40,000 more. The war also displaced over 1.5 million people. Russia has occupied Crimea, imprisoned many activist members of the local Crimean Tatar population and killed Ukrainians in the country’s eastern provinces collectively known as Donbas.
Russia started and supported military groups, proclaimed them the representatives of the local population and for six years has claimed that Ukraine is undergoing a civil war, and Russia is simply an observer.
These claims were debunked on multiple occasions. Russian soldiers were captured and Russian arms were destroyed on Ukrainian territory. Satellite footage showed the entry of Russian weaponry into Ukraine.
Starting in 2014, Russia was slapped with international sanctions from the European Union and the U.S.
Hours after Yermak’s briefing on March 13, a number of lawmakers from Zelensky’s 248-member Servant of the People party issued a statement urging the president to back down from potential talks with militants.
Lawmakers refer to the law adopted back in 2018, which declares that Russia is occupying Ukrainian territory and the only official representative of the occupied regions is Russia itself. None of the proxies that Russia is trying to present to Ukraine can be considered legitimate representatives of Ukrainians living in occupation, the law says.
“We urge President Zelensky to instruct Ukrainian representatives and all negotiators of Ukraine to return to Ukrainian law and to prevent the implementation of the announced decisions,” the statement reads.
The 20-member Voice party called for street protests against the agreements reached in Minsk, while the 27-member European Solidarity party issued an official statement saying that Yermak’s comments were treason.
