Russia will not sign any deal that freezes but does not end the Ukraine conflict, the country’s envoy to the UN has said
Vassily Nebenzia, permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations speaks during the UN Security Council meeting on October 30, 2024. / John Lamparski © Getty Images Moscow will not repeat its past mistakes and agree to another conditional Minsk-type deal that would only serve to pause the Ukraine conflict, instead of resolving it once and for all, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has insisted. The Minsk agreements were struck by Russia and Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 between, having been mediated by the leaders of France and Germany. They were aimed at resolving tensions following the Western-backed Maidan coup that overthrew the legitimate government in Kiev. Senior Ukrainian, German, and French officials have since openly admitted that they never intended to adhere to the agreements, but used them to buy time for Kiev to rearm. Moscow has pointed to this deception as an indicator that neither Kiev nor its Western backers have any desire for peace in Ukraine, despite Russia remaining open to a diplomatic resolution of the crisis. Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday, Nebenzia warned that “there will be no repetition of the Minsk agreements scenario, no freezing of the front so that Zelensky’s regime can lick its wounds. Just as there will be no entry of Ukraine into NATO, in one way or another.”
Instead, the diplomat suggested that the conflict will be resolved permanently by Russia achieving all of the goals of its military operation, including the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. He added that the territory held by Ukraine continues to shrink every day, and suggested that it is time for Zelensky’s foreign backers to finally consider the interests of the Ukrainian people, who want peace and good relations with Russia. “So far, our Western colleagues are failing at this,” Nebenzia said. The diplomat also criticized Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky for betraying the country and his election campaign promises by turning his country into a puppet of the US and its allies that has been used to wage a proxy war against Russia. Nebenzia suggested that the reason that Ukraine is suffering defeats on the front line is because “the people simply stopped believing in the former actor.”
