"It’s another proof that Russia is not going to fulfill Minsk agreements," he says.
Kiyv analyst warns that “Russian citizenship will provide Moscow with pretext to openly use armed forces in the territory of Ukraine, because Russian legislation envisages right to use militaries to protect Russian citizens abroad”
“By this escalation Russia tries to put a pressure on a newly elected president Zelensky who promised peace to his voters. Obviously, Moscow seeks to push inexperienced Zelensky to concessions and quick peace agreement on Russian conditions, which were recently voices by Viktor Medvedchuk”.
“Putin's decision is also a reminder to politicians both in Ukraine and in the West that the problem is not about personality of Ukrainian president, but about Moscow’s assertive ambition to return Ukraine onto its orbit of influence. Resolute and united position of Ukraine and its Western partners is needed to withstand this pressure and prevent Russia from further escalation,” Chairman of the Board at East European Security Initiative said.
Danger of open military involvement
Maksym Khyłko, political scientist, president of the board of the East European Security Research Initiative Foundation, emphasizes that Putin's decree, which simplifies the procedure for granting Russian citizenship to Ukrainians living in Russia's part of Donbas nad Ukrainians in other parts of the county, is another provocative step indicating the Moscow's disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian political scientist emphasizes that passporting carries an existential threat to his country.
Russia supports the self-proclaimed republics in the Donbas militarily, politically and financially, yet it still does not admit it openly. But the management of these republics is subordinated to decisions made by Kremlin.
Until now, although Russia has been sending military support to the self-proclaimed republics, it has been hiding this fact. The expert points to the threat that the new situation will give Russia a pretext for open Russian involvement in this area.
“Passportization” gives Russia a number of other opportunities for destructive activities. Among other things, Moscow will try to destabilize the country as much as possible before the parliamentary elections.
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(Agnieszka Marcela Kamińska, PolskieRadio.pl)
