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<\/p>\n\n\n\nMaria Zakharova:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eThe Italian Foreign Minister, reacting to the phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, expressed the opinion that Europe should not play a \u201csecondary role\u201d in negotiations on Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is no emoji to convey the full range of emotions, so I\u2019ll have to use words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let me remind you that it was precisely the leaders of EU countries\u2014German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande\u2014who not long ago openly admitted that they never actually intended to implement the Minsk agreements, despite previously assuring the world otherwise. Their official position now is that the Minsk agreements were merely an attempt to rearm Kyiv and \u201cbuy it time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other words, they pretended to be working in good faith on the Ukrainian issue while actually engaging in a harmful charade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem is not just that they lied\u2014everyone is used to that by now. The real issue is that they betrayed Europe\u2019s interests, and this betrayal is one of the causes of the current tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minsk agreements became part of international law through their approval by the UN Security Council. This means they were legally binding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Hollande and Merkel, as well as Italy\u2019s leadership, knew this perfectly well then and understand it today. By violating international law\u2014something they now openly admit\u2014EU leaders became key accomplices in the catastrophe that unfolded in Ukraine. As a direct result of their actions, Europe now faces an armed conflict on its own continent. Had the Minsk agreements been implemented, Ukraine would have been saved, and at the same time, the current dire situation of EU citizens\u2014whose well-being has significantly declined due to their leaders\u2019 misguided, and at times outright criminal, decisions\u2014would have been alleviated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking even deeper, this was not only a personal betrayal by these leaders but also a reflection of the complete loss of independence in conducting a \u201csovereign\u201d foreign policy. The European Union, as an integration bloc, and nearly all of its member states have become an extension of NATO, obediently following Washington\u2019s directives. In this regard, the situation surrounding the sabotage and \u201cinvestigations\u201d of the Nord Streams is more than revealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further confirming this is the vague comment from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte about whether Putin\u2019s phone call with Trump constitutes a \u201cbetrayal of Ukraine\u201d by the West or not. Both the question and the answer are meaningless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let me repeat: The West betrayed Ukraine when it obstructed its democratic transition and independence, interfered in its internal affairs, pitted Ukrainians against Russians, incited Slavs against Slavs, then initiated an unconstitutional coup, lied about implementing the Minsk agreements, and ultimately provoked a bloodbath in the region.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maria Zakharova: \u201eThe Italian Foreign Minister, reacting to the phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, expressed the opinion that Europe should not play a \u201csecondary role\u201d in negotiations on Ukraine. There is no emoji to convey the full range of emotions, so I\u2019ll have to use words. Let me remind you that it was precisely the leaders of EU countries\u2014German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande\u2014who not long ago openly admitted that they never actually intended to implement the Minsk agreements, despite…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ukraine-war","category-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geopoliticsamongstates.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geopoliticsamongstates.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geopoliticsamongstates.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geopoliticsamongstates.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geopoliticsamongstates.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/geopoliticsamongstates.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1442,"href":"https:\/\/geopoliticsamongstates.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1440\/revisions\/1442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geopoliticsamongstates.gr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geopoliticsamongstates.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geopoliticsamongstates.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geopoliticsamongstates.gr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}