Prystaiko: No alternatives to Minsk agreements being prepared

No alternatives to the Minsk agreements are currently being prepared, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Vadym Prystaiko said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

"At present, no alternatives to the Minsk agreements are being prepared. But if the leaders come and say — and we are ready for that — that a provision [of the Minsk agreements] is obviously outdated, is not viable, and ask to reword it – the leaders sometimes do that," he said.

According to Prystaiko, the leaders may arrive at a view that the Minsk agreements have not shown their survivability, they have not brought peace to Ukraine over the past five years, so they need to be adapted.

At the same time, he noted, an alternative to the Minsk agreements could be a peacekeeping operation which is currently not envisaged within the Minsk process.

Prystaiko noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has a folder with fall-back option in case if a first-priority option does not work. "It says that if the Minsk process is not implemented, there must be a different course of action. I have said many times that it may be a peacekeeping operation. It is not envisaged by the Minsk process. And even when the leaders discuss it, a fair question arises: so do we leave the Minsk agreements? That is, I have not said anything contrary to Minsk agreements. In contrast, the leaders have long been discussing the possibility of changes allowing for a peacekeeping mission," he said.

At the same time, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine underscores that if this option does not work, for example, Russia blocks the decision of the UN Security Council and the mission is not deployed, then, apparently, the diplomatic system gets the third option.

"And we have a few more options in stock which have already been outlined to the President in general terms," Prystaiko said.

The next summit with the participation of the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia (the so-called Normandy Four) is to take place in Paris on December 9.

ol