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DEThe resonant statements by Witold Fockin, Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Delegation to the Tripartite Contact Group on Donbas about the need to grant special status to the whole Donbas and to provide amnesty to pro-Russian militants caused a loud scandal. The wave of dissatisfaction with these words rose on social networks and was supported by Ukrainian politicians, after which the authorities also reacted to ambiguous statements. Promote Ukraine publishes a reaction to Fockin’s words.
The European Solidarity Party called on the President of Ukraine to immediately remove Fockin from the Ukrainian representation in the TCG.
“The statement by the First Deputy Chairman of the Tripartite Contact Group Witold Fockin about the possibility of holding elections in the ORDLO, a general amnesty and a ‘special status’ is a plan to destroy Ukrainian statehood. If the Minsk agreements deal with the peculiarities of local self-government in defined districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Fockin offers a special status for the whole Donbas. Thus, Ukraine’s representative in the negotiating group offers the Russians even more than they ask.
The position of the Ukrainian delegation in the TCG is a matter of Ukrainian statehood and national security. It is impossible to allow capitulation, shaking the situation in the country, and provocations by such statements. Once again, we demand that the authorities immediately announce the position of the Ukrainian delegation,” the official address of political force states.
Dmytro Razumkov, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
“Full amnesty… There are war crimes, and no country in the world has ever amnestied them. These are realities that the world has been facing for many years, and I believe Ukraine can hardly go its way here.”
Arsen Avakov, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
“None of our soldiers should die because of clumsy political speculation. Therefore, the statement of Ukraine’s representative in the TCG, Witold Fockin, about the general amnesty and special status for the whole territory of Donbas is provocative and does not meet national interests. We remember that thousands of our soldiers died for every piece of Ukrainian land in the Donbas.”
Oleksandr Turchynov, former Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine
“The statement of the president’s representative in the Tripartite Contact Group, Witold Fockin, about the need to give a special status to the whole Donbas, as well as that ‘both sides committed crimes’ is a manifestation of more than just senile insanity. That is a demonstrative defection by Zelensky’s authorised person to the aggressor country’s side and the anti-state position extension, which reflects Putin’s strategic interests.
I want to ask Zelensky’s representatives in the TCG what crimes were committed by the Ukrainian military in Donbas while defending and liberating their native land at the expense of their lives? Do Fockin, Kravchuk, and those behind them hope that Ukraine will give Putin the entire Donbas, which Russian troops have not been able to seize by force?
If Fokin and Kravchuk are not immediately dismissed from the TCG and criminal cases are not opened against them, it will mean that they voice the agreed theses of the ‘green government.” If so, these events will require an adequate response of millions of Ukrainians who are ready to defend their country.”
Pavlo Klimkin, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
“If one wants to discredit the Minsk platform and the Tripartite Contact Group finally, the goal is almost achieved.
Initially, Kravchuk spoke of the possibility of supplying water to the occupied Crimea ‘in a humanitarian crisis case.’ Now Fockin says that the whole Donbas needs special status, not just its occupied territories. In Moscow, they are jumping for joy. They could not say better – it’s just their dream. Providing Moscow with Donbas, which was won by the Ukrainian soldiers’ lives via introducing a special status, is generally a moral weird. The next step will then be the special status and federalisation of the entire Ukraine.”
Roman Vashchuk, former Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine
“The world negotiation practice provides no translation for the idiomatic-Fockins: ‘do not waste efforts, godfather…’. With such innovation in the TCG delegation itself, what can we expect from international partners? ”
At the same time, Oleksandr Kornienko, MP and First Deputy Chairman of the “People’s Servant” faction, allows a meeting with Fockin in connection with his statements about Donbas.
Bohdan Marusyak
