Putin-Biden meeting could be Ukraine's 'nightmare'
The Russia-US summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden could turn into a "nightmare" for Ukraine, political expert Konstantin Bondarenko - Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics said.
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| Kiev city, Ukraine. Illustration photo |
"In this situation, there is only one question - will the United States order Ukraine to implement the Minsk agreements, or will they just continue to simulate the process of implementing the document" - expert Bondarenko commented.
In the view of this political scientist, how determined Biden will be to demand that Ukraine fulfill the agreements depends on how well he manages to ease the tense situation with Putin.
As a result of the bilateral summit, Washington may set Kiev a deadline for implementing the agreements, the political scientist continued.
"It would be a nightmare for the Ukrainian government if Washington started forcing Kiev to comply with the Minsk agreements," Mr. Bondarenko emphasized.
At the same time, expert Bondarenko added that if Ukraine is forced to implement the Minsk agreements in their current form, Kiev may establish closer contacts with the UK and "ignore the US position", taking steps that are in London's favor, not Washington's, as well as creating regional blocs, for example, with the participation of Türkiye.
"However, in any situation and under any scenario, we are faced with the fate of a non-sovereign state, manipulated in the interests of major players. In order not to be manipulated and controlled, we need to become strong and mature ourselves," the Ukrainian expert concluded.
The Minsk agreements were developed during negotiations in Minsk between Vladimir Putin and former French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Ukrainian leader Piotr Poroshenko, signed on 5 September 2014, with further amendments on 12 February 2015.