Klimkin on Tokaev's statement: Either he is scared of something or playing a game

By
Pavlo Klimkin / GORDON

“Tokayev is a very experienced diplomat, he could have “got out” [Kazakhstan's first president Nursultan] Nazarbayev did not allow himself such things. Tokayev is either afraid of something: for his country or for himself, or he is playing some game, on the eve of the meeting in the Norman format. Work is no longer here for statements, crisis management is needed”, Pavlo Klimkin underlined.

Photo: EPA

The statement made by Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who denies Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, is a wake-up call and a slap in the face to Ukraine. Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine - Pavlo Anatoliyovych Klimkin, said on Facebook on December 4, 2019.

“Tokayev is a very experienced diplomat, he could have “got out” [Kazakhstan's first president Nursultan] Nazarbayev did not allow himself such things. Tokayev is either afraid of something: for his country or for himself, or he is playing some game, on the eve of the meeting in the Norman format. Work is no longer here for statements, crisis management is needed”, Pavlo Klimkin underlined.

On December 4-th, 2019, an interview with the President of Kazakhstan - Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, was broadcasted by “Deutsche Welle”, stating that the authorities of Kazakhstan did not call the 2014 events in Crimea “annexation”. (http://blacksea-caspia.eu/en/node/166 )

“What has happened has happened.  “Annexation” – this is a word too hard for the Crimea”, he said, when asked if the government of Kazakhstan has been frightened by the war in Eastern Ukraine and by the annexation of Crimea.

Ukraine is deeply concerned about Tokayev's statements and will make the appropriate demarches, stated the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said. She emphasized that such statements contradict the principles of Ukrainian-Kazakh relations and the position of the international community.

Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula, following a violent blockade of Ukrainian troops and after an illegal referendum on March 16, 2014. The accession of the peninsula to the Russian Federation is not recognized by the Ukraine and most countries around the world.

In 2014, immediately after the annexation of Crimea, Russia launched an armed aggression in Eastern Ukraine. The fighting is being waged between the Armed Forces of the Ukraine on the one hand and the Russian army and the Russian-backed rebel fighters who control part of Donetsk and Luhansk regions on the other.

Officially, the Russian Federation does not acknowledge its invasion in the Ukraine, despite the facts and evidence presented by Kiev.

Negotiations to resolve the conflict in the Donbass are being held in the trilateral contact group in Minsk (Ukraine, Russia, OSCE), as well as in the so-called Norman format - with the participation of representatives of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia. The Heads of State of the Norman Format met for the last time on the 19-th of October, 2016 in Berlin.

On November 15, 2019, the Press Service of the President of Ukraine, announced that the new Normandy Donbass Summit will be held on December 9, 2019 in Paris.

The parliamentary factions of “Batkivshchyna” (Fatherland), “Golos” (Voice) and “European Solidarity”, issued a joint statement on the eve of the Norman summit on the situation in the Donbass, in order to prevent any disturbance of the national interests of Ukraine.

The President of Ukraine - Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyi, stated that he intends to discuss during the summit the deadlines for exchanging prisoners of war on an “all-for-all” basis, as well as the precise deadlines for handing over the Russian-Ukrainian border under the control of Ukraine.

Source: https://gordonua.com/news/politics/klimkin-o-zayavlenii-tokaeva-ili-che…;