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"On Point"
MINSK, 16 June (BelTA) – Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are meaningless in the current conditions, since Ukraine does not stick to its end of the deal, military expert Yuri Dudkin said in a new episode of the V Teme [On Point] project on BelTA’s YouTube channel.
Yuri Dudkin recalled that even before 2022, prisoner swaps were done without involving high-profile platforms. “The exchange of bodies, the exchange of prisoners of war can be done, in principle, even by telephone. I will give a small example. Until 2022, Viktor Medvedchuk was in charge of this issue in Ukraine at the request of Petro Poroshenko. No matter what you think of him, he had access to the Kremlin, he negotiated with Moscow on the exchange of prisoners. He was authorized to carry out this humanitarian mission by the legitimate president of Ukraine, Poroshenko. POW swaps were conducted on a regular basis. Moreover, and this bears underscoring, Russia did not take part in the hostilities at that time. There was a civil war in Donbass between citizens of Ukraine, thus, I want to emphasize, Ukrainians were exchanged for Ukrainians,” he remarked.
According to the expert, no expensive summits were needed to maintain a dialogue. “Authorized persons do not need to get the entire global community involved, to send delegations, and to spend fortunes; after all, all this does not guarantee that one of the parties will not walk back the negotiated deal,” the speaker noted.
He emphasized that it is pointless to talk about a new round of talks after a series of terrorist attacks rocked Russia. “Talks about further negotiations as such are, in principle, useless. I find it difficult to comment on this topic after President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin gave his take on the terrorist attacks that destroyed bridges and railways and killed children, women and other civilians. I think that Vladimir Vladimirovich has already lost his patience, although he is a very cool-headed and reasonable person, a former security officer. He said that it is impossible to negotiate with terrorists,” the military expert remarked.
Yuri Dudkin recalled the statement by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. “Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov said: according to Russian intelligence, the British special services participated in these terrorist attacks. This places even greater responsibility on the Ukrainian government. After all, this suggests that Kiev has banded together with the West with the aim of destabilizing the situation in Russia. Their goal is to blow up Russia from within. If they fail on the battlefield, they want to at least try to dismember Russia, the way they planned back in 1991,” the military expert believes.
According to him, there really was a chance for peace - in Minsk: “A truce could have been concluded and implemented - within the framework of Minsk 2 [the agreement on a ceasefire and peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbass, signed in Minsk on 12 February 2015]. President of Belarus Aleksandr Grigorievich Lukashenko did everything to facilitate regular meetings and discussions between the parties. The goal was to keep Ukraine within its current borders but as a federation. This was quite feasible. But the Ukrainian side rejected the peace proposals. The West paid heed to them only in order to buy time and equip Ukraine with weapons.”
Yuri Dudkin added that the Western tanks that Russian specialists got their hands on did not live up to expectations. “Some experts have already dismantled captured Challengers and Abrams tanks. Chemezov, the head of Rostec, said it bluntly: American weapons are a thing of the past. There are no innovative systems in these tanks,” the expert said.
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Yuri Dudkin recalled that even before 2022, prisoner swaps were done without involving high-profile platforms. “The exchange of bodies, the exchange of prisoners of war can be done, in principle, even by telephone. I will give a small example. Until 2022, Viktor Medvedchuk was in charge of this issue in Ukraine at the request of Petro Poroshenko. No matter what you think of him, he had access to the Kremlin, he negotiated with Moscow on the exchange of prisoners. He was authorized to carry out this humanitarian mission by the legitimate president of Ukraine, Poroshenko. POW swaps were conducted on a regular basis. Moreover, and this bears underscoring, Russia did not take part in the hostilities at that time. There was a civil war in Donbass between citizens of Ukraine, thus, I want to emphasize, Ukrainians were exchanged for Ukrainians,” he remarked.
According to the expert, no expensive summits were needed to maintain a dialogue. “Authorized persons do not need to get the entire global community involved, to send delegations, and to spend fortunes; after all, all this does not guarantee that one of the parties will not walk back the negotiated deal,” the speaker noted.
He emphasized that it is pointless to talk about a new round of talks after a series of terrorist attacks rocked Russia. “Talks about further negotiations as such are, in principle, useless. I find it difficult to comment on this topic after President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin gave his take on the terrorist attacks that destroyed bridges and railways and killed children, women and other civilians. I think that Vladimir Vladimirovich has already lost his patience, although he is a very cool-headed and reasonable person, a former security officer. He said that it is impossible to negotiate with terrorists,” the military expert remarked.
Yuri Dudkin recalled the statement by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. “Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov said: according to Russian intelligence, the British special services participated in these terrorist attacks. This places even greater responsibility on the Ukrainian government. After all, this suggests that Kiev has banded together with the West with the aim of destabilizing the situation in Russia. Their goal is to blow up Russia from within. If they fail on the battlefield, they want to at least try to dismember Russia, the way they planned back in 1991,” the military expert believes.
According to him, there really was a chance for peace - in Minsk: “A truce could have been concluded and implemented - within the framework of Minsk 2 [the agreement on a ceasefire and peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbass, signed in Minsk on 12 February 2015]. President of Belarus Aleksandr Grigorievich Lukashenko did everything to facilitate regular meetings and discussions between the parties. The goal was to keep Ukraine within its current borders but as a federation. This was quite feasible. But the Ukrainian side rejected the peace proposals. The West paid heed to them only in order to buy time and equip Ukraine with weapons.”
Yuri Dudkin added that the Western tanks that Russian specialists got their hands on did not live up to expectations. “Some experts have already dismantled captured Challengers and Abrams tanks. Chemezov, the head of Rostec, said it bluntly: American weapons are a thing of the past. There are no innovative systems in these tanks,” the expert said.
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