Ex-governor of the Luhansk region says there is a plan for the 'deoccupation of the Donbas'
In an interview with Hromadske Radio, the Deputy Minister for the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and the former head of administration for Luhansk, Georgiy Tuka, said that he has not ruled out the possibility of trade with the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic.
“There are two opposite points of view, of which the first is fencing off areas with barbed wire. This however is absolutely destructive. The population will mentally distance itself from us and they will become exasperated with us. We will have a situation in which by transferring our payments to the Donbas, we will be subsidizing the industry of the aggressor,” he explained.
According to Tuka, the second possibility is not to restrict the trade with the self-declared republics. However, he believes that the solution lies in the middle of these two options.
Tuka has also said that a plan for the “deoccupation” of Donbas already exists. He did not, however, reveal the details of that plan.
“I would not like to disclose this information now. This is one of the stages of that plan that I previously spoke about. Yesterday, I believed that this plan did not exist but I have seen it for myself today. The information must first be properly presented and be approved by the President and the Ukrainian National Security Council. Once this is done, the details can be shared with the public,” he explained.