Russia would have revised its territorial demands on Ukraine. The statements of the diplomacy chief of Ankara
Russia continues to ask from Ukraine the Donbas region of the East, which it does not fully control, but it is willing to freeze the conflict in the south of the country along the current lines of the front, Hakan Fidan said on Thursday night.
War in Dombas Photo: Profimedia
The Russian army occupies about one fifth of the Ukrainian territory, and Moscow claims the annexation of five regions: those in the eastern Donet and Lugansk, which forms Donbas, those in southern Herson and Zaporojiei, as well as Crimea, conquered in 2014.
During the discussions in Istanbul from the beginning of this year, the Russian negotiators asked the complete withdrawal of Ukraine from these five regions as a pre -conditional condition, writes Agerpres.
According to Ankarea, however, Moscow changed his position following the recent Alaska summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Thus, the Russians “They have abandoned this request and remain on the contact lines, except for a region (…) at present, there is a preliminary agreement on the restitution (transfer to Russia – no) of 25 to 30% of the Donetk region and maintaining the contact lines in Zaporojie and Herson”said the head of Turkish diplomacy in an interview with TGRT Haber television.
He did not specify if this ”preliminary agreement ” It was concluded between Moscow and Washington or between Moscow and Kiev, which has so far rejected any territorial concessions, even when it was concluded.
Under the projection of anonymity, there have been officials who have already talked about this apparent inflexion of Russia.
Despite a deadly attack on the capital of Ukraine on Thursday, soldier with at least 23 dead, Fidan greeted the progress on the diplomatic front.
The Turkish minister acknowledged that it would be “difficult” For Ukraine to transfer the territories, especially the vast mining and industrial region Donbas, the best defended section of the front, consisting of fortified cities and hundreds of kilometers of trenches and minted fields.
“Once this territory is ceded, the remaining territory will become difficult to protect”Fidan pointed out.
