One of the reasons for the failure of the Minsk agreements was the “selfish” position of Germany, which wanted to increase its weight in international politics with the help of the “Normandy” format. This view was expressed by Andriy Melnik, former ambassador to Germany and deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, in an interview with RBC Ukraine.
“There were many reasons, but I think one of the most important was that, according to Bismarck, Germany had never been an “honest mediator”. The interests of the neutral mediator were too confused with his own selfish interests, which eventually came to the fore, given the fundamental nature of German-Russian relations, ”the diplomat explained.
According to him, the negotiations in the format of “Normandy” (Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany participated in them to resolve the conflict in the Donbass before the start of the special operation – “socialbites.ca”) were purely technological. by its nature, since Berlin decided not to “offend the Russians” and did not demand from Moscow the “unconditional implementation” of the Minsk agreements.
Melnik believes that Russia was really trying to negotiate in this format until the summer of 2015, as it was under the “pressure” of the West due to the annexation of Crimea. But later, according to him, Russia’s level of international pressure and isolation began to wane.
“From now on, all of N4’s negotiations, sorry, it was a wasted transfusion. In other words, the Germans continued to organize negotiations in various formats almost every two to three weeks as an intermediary, and they prepared dozens of projects, most of them small decisions. But it was all in vain,” said the deputy minister.
Melnik said he was in the German Chancellor’s office on the day the special operation began, that is, on February 24 last year, asking directly whether Berlin would begin providing military support to Kiev now.
“Berlin is not planning any mediation efforts” because they don’t make sense. I almost fell out of my chair in the chancellor’s office when I heard this,” said the former ambassador.
Melnyk also recalled former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s statements that the Minsk agreements were a way to give Ukraine time to gain strength for direct armed conflict with Russia. The diplomat described these remarks as an attempt to “cleanse the image” due to Germany’s failed policy towards Russia.
“If this is really your cunning plan, then why hasn’t Germany lifted a finger all this time to really strengthen our defensive capacity, to provide us with the latest weapons to prevent a new Russian attack? But the Germans openly prevented the purchase of 100 rifles through the NATO Agency until the last days before the great war, ”said the diplomat.
He noted that if it had been Armin Laschet from the CDU/CSU party and not Olaf Scholz, the new chancellor after Merkel, Kiev may have never seen the supply of weapons and equipment from Germany.
At the same time, Melnyk is sure that Berlin is still very hesitant to send weapons to Ukraine. According to the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, there are many among the Social Democrats in the Bundestag who oppose the supply of the latest weapons to Kiev, especially warplanes. He also pointed out that Scholz’s personal position played a role and he did not want an escalation of the conflict and a nuclear war.
“Germany’s relations with Russia have a special history that goes back to the Cold War or the close cooperation between the First and Second World Wars. <…> And this German-Russian axis will not go anywhere, it will only change a little, ”Melnik explained.
In December 2022, Merkel admitted in an interview with Die Zeit that “the Minsk agreements of 2014 were an attempt to give Ukraine time”, which she used to “get stronger”.
A few weeks later, the former president of France, François Hollande, agreed with the former chancellor. “Yes, Angela Merkel is right. The Minsk agreements stopped Russia’s progress for a while,” she said. According to him, since the signing of these agreements, Kiev has “strengthened its military positions”, and the country’s army has been retrained and better equipped.
In February, Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus pranked Hollande on behalf of former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Hollande reaffirmed his position on the Minsk agreements. “We must defend the Minsk talks, because during these seven years Ukraine had the means of empowerment,” said the former head of state.
President Vladimir Putin said he was disappointed by Merkel and Hollande’s statements. “It turns out that no one is going to implement all these Minsk agreements,” Putin said last December. The President expressed hope that Moscow would be sincere in their desire to resolve the conflict in Donbass between France and Germany. “It turned out that they were deceiving us too,” the head of state summed up.