Less than two days ago, Russia recognized the independence of the DPR and LPR, but the development of events in the neighboring country did not stop there. On February 23, she talked with ex-presidential candidate of Ukraine and co-chairman of the Opposition Platform - For Life party Yuriy Boyko. We publish a conversation with him to show what was the attitude of the Ukrainian opposition to the events in their country a few hours before the start of Russia's special military operation in the Donbass. : How do your party feel about the fact that Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the LNR and the DNR? What further steps will Ukraine take and how is the political situation in your country changing?

Yuri Boyko: I understand why this recognition happened - because the Minsk agreements were not implemented for eight years. This prompted Russia to take such a step. Naturally, we are not happy with this, because we demanded the implementation of the Minsk agreements, and to the last we stood on the fact that they must be implemented. And today, of course, we are in a weak position, because in fact Russia has withdrawn from these agreements. Although, the delay in fulfilling their conditions was clearly not from Russia, but from other parties.

Therefore, we are now in favor of diplomatic options for resolving this conflict with the participation of mediators. And, of course, I spoke openly at a meeting with the president [February 22] that we only need a diplomatic path and no confrontation, so we did not vote for recognizing Russia as an aggressor, nor for sanctions against State Duma deputies. We believe that this will further aggravate the conflict.

- And who can be an intermediary between Russia and Ukraine?

- We expected that it would be French President Emmanuel Macron, but, in my opinion, the attempt failed. But we must look for someone else, because there is no direct contact between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine.

In general, I expected that a special mission would be created between the Americans and the Russians. I openly suggested this to the Americans when there were delegations here and their ambassador came.

Unfortunately, this did not happen, but it seems to me that there is just a large array of problems between the Americans and the Russians, one of which is Ukraine. And, probably, this contact is the most effective that can be.

- How now the attitude towards Russian has changed in the Rada and Ukrainian society - towards Russian culture, art. Are there any points of contact left that can be used to build relationships?

- Nothing has changed - as all Russians have been defamed, they continue to do so. As it was, it remains, unfortunately. This anti-Russian trend prevails in society. 70% of people in the country believe that Ukraine is at war with Russia.

- Well, at least some directions on Russian-Ukrainian contacts? Something very far from politics. Music? Sport?

- All this remained, and family ties remained. But all this is so clearly denigrated by the authorities, and by the radicals, and by everyone who is against it, that it is very difficult to talk about Russia in general in our country, and to a certain extent unsafe. In any key. If you praise Russia, then you are backward. And if you praise America, then you are good.

— Has the Russian-speaking population also changed its attitude towards Russia and everything Russian? Isn't there a trend that the Russian language is becoming “outlawed”, people are avoiding communication in Russian?

There are attempts to create such a situation. At the household level, everything is preserved as before, but at the official level there are attempts to eradicate the Russian language. They were undertaken by the alien authorities when laws were passed both on education, where the Russian language was eradicated, and on communication in it in official organizations. The current authorities promised to eliminate this, but, in general, they continue in the same spirit.

And given the general aggravation between Ukraine and Russia, they are also becoming more active.

There was a case recently when the director of a Russian-speaking gymnasium was fired for trying to leave several Russian classes. I interfered there, defended it - and went to the minister.

- What is the situation with the borders of the LPR and the DPR? What is Kiev going to do in connection with the fact that the borders of the new republics can pass through the territory that is now controlled by Ukraine?

Well, that's a bad story. Because it will already be a serious military conflict, not just a shootout.

And then, we have our voter there. We already have fewer voters than on the opposite side, and we are the only faction that defends the interests of restoring relations with Russia, but these actions will simply destroy us. We will become outcasts.

- And in what direction will Kiev's actions be directed?

— In my opinion, they were very happy with Russia's decision to recognize the LNR and the DNR. This relieved them of the need to comply with the Minsk agreements. It was a ill-concealed joy. Because the Westerners urged them to comply with the Minsk agreements, and here Russia itself made it so that there was no need to fulfill anything. Everything, we are victims and so on.Therefore, recognition played into the hands of Kiev. Today they are glad that it is possible not to comply with the Minsk agreements. And so they tried to maneuver, explained something to the Westerners, tried to pretend that they were doing it. And here you don't have to do anything at all.

But the idea of ​​transferring the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, controlled by Kiev, to the DPR and LPR is not even discussed.

— How has Viktor Medvedchuk's position changed?

Nothing has changed, he is at home under house arrest.

Is Zelensky going to use it as an informal channel of communication with Moscow, or has he already been written off?

- In my opinion, he was written off and is not considered as a negotiator.

He is very seriously tied to [ex-president of Ukraine Petro] Poroshenko. It is believed that together they made money on contacts with the DPR and LPR. And they make special TV programs in which they say that Medvedchuk and Poroshenko worked on a Russian resource. They are trying to tie him to the previous government.

- And how is Kiev going to build relations with the inhabitants of the new republics now? Will they continue to receive pensions and benefits? Will certificates and diplomas be recognized? Issue passports?

- They have not built any relations with them and so far they are not considering such an opportunity. Previously, people traveled through checkpoints and received pensions in Ukraine. But that was before the pandemic, then it stopped. And so far I don't see any attempts to restore this practice. There we have, in my opinion, only one crossing works, in the village of Luganskaya, and then it is periodically fired upon.

The interview was recorded around 6:00 pm on February 23rd.

bbabo.Net