On July 4, 2019, when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Italian capital Rome, he publicly addressed European countries. He called on the EU to uphold justice and not force Russia to comply with the "Minsk Agreement."
At a press conference after meeting Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Putin bristled at calls from European countries for Moscow to take full responsibility for the Minsk Agreements. He believes that when it comes to the implementation of the Minsk Agreement, European partners have completely different views on Russia and Ukraine.
When facing Ukraine , Europe was laissez-faire without a bottom line; when facing Russia, it blindly asked Moscow to implement the "Minsk Agreement" and forced Russia to complete tasks that should not be completed by itself (Russia has always believed that it is not related to the Ukrainian conflict party, and therefore cannot implement the Minsk Agreement)
The Russian leader emphasized that in order to implement the "Minsk Agreement", Ukraine must cancel former President Petro Poroshenko's decree imposing an economic blockade on Donbass. Regarding this matter, Russia cannot do it for Ukraine.
It is inappropriate to place all the responsibility for the unenforceability of the Minsk Agreement on a single country. Europe should think calmly and figure out who should do what.
At the press conference, President Putin also criticized Ukrainian leader Zelensky. He accused Zelensky of making current remarks that were inconsistent with the promises he made during the campaign. Putin pointed out that Zelensky claimed during the campaign that he was willing to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but after becoming president, he stated that he did not want to engage in dialogue with the separatists.
In response, Italian Prime Minister Conte believed that the continuation of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine may lead to a deterioration in relations between the EU and Russia. But even so, the Italian government will work hard to create conditions for the lifting of EU sanctions on Russia. (July 5, 2019, author: Liu Peng)
