00:00We were asking for the implementation of this deal.
00:04They were absolutely impatient and aggressive.
00:09Agreements were signed.
00:11I was there. The negotiations lasted for 17 hours.
00:16And the deal was, well, Crimea was lost by that time
00:22because of the referendum.
00:24A special status for a very tiny part of Donbass.
00:30Not for the entire Donbass.
00:32Not for Novorossiya at all.
00:35Part of Donbass, as Putin explained,
00:39at that time we suggested these security arrangements
00:45to NATO and the United States, which was rejected.
00:50And when the Plan B was launched out of Donbass by force,
00:54it was then that we launched the special military operation.
00:59Had they implemented the Minsk agreements,
01:02Ukraine would be one piece minus Crimea.
01:05But even then, when Ukrainians, after we started the operation,
01:09suggested to negotiate, we agreed.
01:12There were several rounds in Belarus,
01:14and later they moved to Istanbul.
01:17And in Istanbul, Ukrainian delegation put a paper on the table
01:23saying those are the principles on which we are ready to agree.
01:28So what are the terms under which Russia would cease hostilities?
01:32What are you asking for?
01:35Ten years ago, in February 2014,
01:38we were asking only for the deal between the president and the opposition
01:44to have government of national unity, to hold early elections,
01:48to be implemented.
01:50The deal was signed.
01:52And we were asking for the implementation of this deal.
01:56They were absolutely impatient and aggressive.
02:01And they were, of course, pushed, I have no slightest doubt, by the Americans,
02:06because if Victoria Nuland and the U.S. ambassador agreed
02:11the composition of the government,
02:13why wait for five months to hold early elections?
02:17The next time we were in favor of something
02:22was when the Minsk agreements were signed.
02:25I was there.
02:27The negotiations lasted for 17 hours.
02:30And the deal was, well, Crimea was lost by that time
02:36because of the referendum.
02:38And nobody, including my colleague John Kerry,
02:44meeting with us, nobody in the West was raising the issue of Crimea.
02:50Everybody was concentrated on Donbass.
02:53And the Minsk agreements provided for territorial integrity of Ukraine,
03:00minus Crimea, this was not even raised,
03:04and a special status for a very tiny part of Donbass.
03:11Not for the entire Donbass.
03:13Not for Novorossiya at all.
03:16Part of Donbass, under these Minsk agreements,
03:21endorsed by the Security Council,
03:23should have the right to speak Russian language,
03:27to teach Russian language, to study in Russian,
03:33to have local law enforcement, like in the states of the US,
03:41to be consulted when judges and prosecutors are appointed
03:46by the central authority,
03:49and to have some facilitated economic connections
03:53with neighboring regions of Russia.
03:57That's it.
03:59Something which President Macron promised to give to Corsica,
04:04and still is considering how to do this.
04:10And when these agreements were sabotaged all along,
04:18first by Poroshenko, and then by Zelensky,
04:22both of them, by the way, came to presidency,
04:25running on the promise of peace.
04:28And both of them lied.
04:33So when these Minsk agreements were sabotaged to the extent
04:38that we saw the attempts to take this tiny part of Donbass by force,
04:46and we, as Putin explained, we have, at that time,
04:51we suggested these security arrangements to NATO and the United States,
04:56which was rejected.
04:59And when the Plan B was launched by Ukraine and its sponsors,
05:04trying to take this part of Donbass by force,
05:08it was then that we launched the special military operation.
05:14Had they implemented the Minsk agreements,
05:16Ukraine would be one piece, minus Crimea.
05:19But even then, when Ukrainians, after we started the operation,
05:23suggested to negotiate, we agreed.
05:26There were several rounds in Belarus, and later they moved to Istanbul.
05:31And in Istanbul, Ukrainian delegation put a paper on the table saying,
05:38those are the principles on which we are ready to agree.
05:42And we accepted those principles.
05:45The Minsk principles.
05:46No, no, no, the Istanbul principles.
05:49It was April 22.
05:50Right.
05:52Which was no NATO,
05:55but security guarantees to Ukraine collectively provided
06:02with the participation of Russia.
06:05And these security guarantees would not cover Crimea or the east of Ukraine.
06:13It was their proposal.
06:16And it was initialed.
06:19And the head of the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul,
06:22who is now the chair of the Zelensky faction in the parliament,
06:31he recently, a few months ago, in an interview,
06:34he confirmed that this was the case.
06:36And on the basis of these principles, we were ready to draft a treaty.
06:44But then, this gentleman who headed the Ukrainian delegation in Istanbul,
06:49he said that Boris Johnson visited and told them to continue to fight.
06:55Don't miss out.
06:56Log on to OneIndia.com for more updates.
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