Russia at one time persuaded the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics to abandon its proclaimed sovereignty if Kyiv fulfills the Minsk agreements. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an interview with the French television channel TF1.
“In response to a putsch and statements by the leaders of the coup on the need to drive Russians from everywhere, to ban the status of the Russian language in Ukraine, residents of the eastern of Ukraine said that they did not recognize the coup and did not want to recognize the authorities who captured Kyiv and declared themselves by the government. This Then France, Germany, the European Union were silent. Perhaps they were happy. Then they proclaimed the “DPR” and “LPR”. For this, Kyiv sent troops to them, starting to bomb Donetsk and Lugansk. Europe was silent, – he said. “” “ The then president of France Francois Hollande “organized” the Norman format. For many months, they tried to stop the conflict. We persuaded Donetsk and Lugansk to abandon the proclaimed sovereignty if the Minsk agreements were fulfilled: it was only necessary to provide a special status to these territories. ”
“France and Germany themselves signed what the status should be: the Russian language, their law enforcement agencies and special economic ties with Russia. Nothing of this was done,” the minister added.
Lavrov noticed that the Kyiv regime continued to kill civilians for long, all Europe, all Europe was silent and told Russia that if Ukrainians did not want to fulfill the Minsk agreements, let Moscow fulfill them.
“Now Vladimir Zelensky speaks of readiness for negotiations, but at first they will win everything that was under their control for February 24, and then they will talk. That’s why we had no choice but to recognize the independence of these” republics “, – emphasized the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry. – For us, this is a “military operation” in accordance with the official request of the “sovereign states of the DPR and the LPR”, in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter, which implies the right to individual and collective self -defense. We protect these people and protect these people and We help them restore territorial integrity. “