Poroshenko: Ukraine now has a unique opportunity to force Putin to leave Crimea and Donbas
The economic crisis in Russia is a unique opportunity for Ukraine and the global anti-Putin coalition to “force the aggressor country to withdraw from the occupied territories of Crimea and the Donbas”. To do this, we need to strengthen international solidarity around our country, stated former Ukrainian president and leader of the European Solidarity party Petro Poroshenko in an interview with Sergey Jadan on air of radio station "Trident FM". Poroshenko shared his impressions of the meetings with Putin within the Normandy format and once again stressed that it is the Russian president who is responsible for the war against Ukraine.
"I saw his eyes all the time during the Normandy format meetings when the German Chancellor and the President of France were next to me. I didn't see the desire for peace there. I saw in them hatred for Ukraine and Ukrainians. It was Putin who introduced a bill to the Federation Council of Russia to grant him permission to use armed forces on the territory of other countries. Putin signed a decree on the annexation of Crimea, it was Putin who gave the directives to the Chief of the General Staff in order to bring in Russian paratroopers in August 2014," Petro Poroshenko recalled.
"I was firmly convinced that we can win together. Not only and not so much on the battlefield. Not only and not so much using military force - although not having a modern solid, patriotic, professional army, makes it impossible. But on top of that, we needed sanctions. And they were introduced precisely for violation of the implementation of the Minsk agreements by Russia. To do this, we needed international solidarity, when the whole world united against Putin, would support Ukraine," the ex-president said.
Poroshenko stressed that Putin understands only the language of sanctions.
"In a very short period of time, the whole world has united around us. And today, when the price of oil has fallen, when Russia has a deep crisis with a 5 percent drop in GDP, when the Russian economy is unable to finance this "suitcase without a handle" - there is a unique chance to strengthen international solidarity and force Russia to withdraw from the Donbas and Crimea, fulfilling the obligations that were signed under the general pressure of the Normandy format, the EU and American partners, " Poroshenko said.
Petro Poroshenko also recalled that his team managed to take Russia to international courts and once again stressed that peace on the basis of international law will be achieved if Russian armed groups are withdrawn from the territory of Ukraine.
"Disarmament of illegal armed groups, the transfer of heavy equipment and artillery back over the Russian-Ukrainian border, because this is stated as a priority in the Minsk agreements, with Putin’s signature as a direct participant in the armed aggression against Ukraine,” summed up Petro Poroshenko.