Merkel doubles down on Ukraine peace revelations — RT World News

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has once again confirmed that the 2014-2015 peace deal with Ukraine that she helped organize was meant to allow Kyiv to build stronger armed forces.

The Minsk Accords, brokered by Germany, France and Russia, aimed to end the fighting in the Donbass and pave the way for the peaceful reintegration of the rebel region into Ukraine. Kyiv has promised to enact a constitutional reform that would grant autonomy to the people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The agreement, however, was never implemented, as Ukraine argued over the interpretation of the agreement.

“The 2014 Minsk agreements were an attempt to give Ukraine time”, Merkel told Italian magazine Sette on Tuesday. “Ukraine used this time to become stronger, as we see today. The country of 2014-15 was not the same as today. And I doubt NATO could have done much to help Ukraine the way it is doing now.

Former Ukrainian President Piotr Poroshenko said in June that kyiv had used the Minsk agreements to buy time to rebuild its military and economy. Merkel made a similar point this month, describing the deals to Die Zeit newspaper as an attempt to allow Ukraine to “get stronger”.

Moscow cited Kyiv’s failure to implement Minsk as one of the reasons it launched its military operation in the neighboring state in late February. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Merkel’s words demonstrated that “They were also lying to us and only wanted to pump Ukraine with weapons and prepare it for a military conflict.”

Merkel’s views on the Minsk agreements have also been criticized by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who described the revelations in his interview with Die Zeit as “unbelievable.” Vucic promised to draw lessons for Belgrade, which in the past held EU-brokered negotiations with the breakaway region of Kosovo.

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