Russia striving to ‘eliminate’ Ukraine and ‘restore the Soviet Union,’ PM says
Russia is striving to restore the Soviet Union and “eliminate” Ukraine, the country’s prime minister declared Saturday, exposing a rift within the Kyiv government over the wisdom of a ceasefire agreement.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Ukrainian prime minister, said that his nation stood in the path of Moscow’s supposed ambition to topple the “global order” and rebuild the Soviet Union.
But the young and stridently nationalistic prime minister differed sharply from his superior, president Petro Poroshenko. The two men at the apex of Ukraine’s government disagree over the questions of how to bring about peace and how to deal with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Poroshenko has allowed direct talks with Russia and the rebels who control the eastern cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The outcome was the Minsk ceasefire protocol of Sept. 5, which the president hailed on Friday as an “optimistic” moment that could bring “peace and security”.
Mr. Yatsenyuk, by contrast, described the ceasefire agreement as merely a “pause” that would allow time to “regroup.” He also opposed holding any bilateral negotiations with Russia, saying that America and the European Union should be present at any meeting to strengthen Ukraine’s bargaining power.
The Ukrainian president must now grapple with the political challenge of implementing the Minsk agreement. In the process, he is likely to encounter the opposition of his ambitious prime minister.
Mr. Yatsenyuk, 40, describes himself as being at the helm of a “wartime government.”
Addressing a conference in Kyiv yesterday, Mr. Yatsenyuk said: “We are still in a state of war and the key aggressor is the Russian Federation.”
As for Mr. Putin’s objectives, the prime minister said: “His aim is not just to take Donetsk and Luhansk. His goal is to take the entire Ukraine. He wants to restore the Soviet Union.”
Mr. Yatsenyuk recalled how in 2007 Mr. Putin described the Soviet Union’s demise as the “biggest disaster of the last century.” This showed that the “biggest success of President Putin would be the restoration of the Soviet Union.”
Mr.Yatsenyuk said stage one of Mr. Putin’s plan for a new Russian Imperium had been the annexation of Crimea in March. Stage two was the pro-Russian rebellion now taking place in eastern Ukraine.
Stage three would be for Russian troops to seize a “corridor” across Ukraine linking the rebel-held cities with the breakaway republic of Transnistria in Moldova.
“In the fourth one, he wants to eliminate Ukraine as an independent country,” added Mr. Yatsenyuk.