Herashchenko: I do not consider Kissinger’s and Pinchuk’s ideas about the Crimea realistic
The First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, and Ukraine's representative to the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, Iryna Herashchenko, has criticized a proposal by the a former U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger and Ukrainian oligarch, Victor Pinchuk, about the "exchange of the Crimea for the Donbas."
"Colleagues have asked about my attitude towards Henry Kissinger’s position on exchanging the Crimea for the Donbas. With all due respect to Henry Kissinger’s outstanding diplomatic past, as well as Victor Pinchuk, I do not think this idea is realistic. They have taken into account the interests of the U.S.A. and Russia, of Trump and Putin, but have forgotten the key thing – the position of the Ukrainian people. And the people are not going to surrender and give up on Euro-Atlantic integration just to calm down Europe and Russia," Herashchenko wrote on Facebook.
She noted that the people should not be underestimated. "Therefore, Kissinger and all the others who are thinking over the future of Ukraine, should first of all consider this factor. And we will hold a reunion at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) annual conference in the Ukrainian Crimea. We only need to believe in it and fight for it, and not to give up", Herashchenko summed up.
Former U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, has promised to develop a plan for the political and economic development of Ukraine. The main objective of his plan is for Russia to ensure security in eastern Ukraine. In turn, the West will not intervene in the Crimean issue.
Ukrainian tycoon, Victor Pinchuk, suggested Ukraine "to make painful compromises for peace with Russia." According to Pinchuk’s opinion, which he stated in an article in The Wall Street Journal on December 29, "the Crimea should not impede the reaching of an agreement on the end of the war in the east."
The Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Refat Chubarov, called Pinchuk’s statement an "invitation for Ukraine and Ukrainians including the Crimea and Crimean Tatars to surrender."