Russia's UN Envoy Says West Used Minsk Agreements As Smokescreen To Arm Kiev

UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2023) The Minsk agreements were nothing but a smokescreen for the West to arm the Ukrainian military and prepare them for war against Russia, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said on Friday.

"You were holding back on your true intentions and you knew very well that the Minsk process for you is just a smokescreen for you as to rearm the Kiev regime and to prepare it for war against Russia," Nebenzia said during a UN Security Council meeting.

Nebenzia told the Western members of the council that Russia no longer has any trust in them after they displayed so much Russophobia.

"We are not able to believe any promises you make - not with regards to non expansion of NATO in the east or your desire not to interfere in our internal affairs," Nebenzia added.

The Minsk agreements were a complex series of measures negotiated by Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine in 2014-2015 in a bid to put an end to the armed conflict between the Kiev authorities and the breakaway region of Donbas.

Moscow repeatedly stated that Kiev was not fulfilling the deal, for example by not granting self-government to the Russian-speaking region of Donbas. In February 2022, Russia began a military operation to defend the territory from Ukrainian troops.

Last week, Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted he never intended to implement the Minsk agreements. Both former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande, who participated in the Normandy format, admitted the same. They said that negotiating the Minsk accords with Russia was a stalling tactic to buy time to arm and train the Ukrainian military with no intention to implement their provisions. Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in turn, said that the Normandy format had been nothing but a "diplomatic imitation."