Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk believes that it is necessary to seek another format, even a ”Budapest format” due to the uncertainty of the role the Normandy format of talks on Ukraine plays.
”The Normandy format is unique with the fact that no documents are signed or adopted within its framework: no decisions, no memorandums, and no declarations – nothing. Even the minutes of meeting are not disclosed, from which one could see what had been said, what thoughts had been expressed, and what had been the decision,” Kravchuk wrote in his op-ed for the Novoe Vremya weekly.
Thus, in his opinion, it is difficult to analyze what is actually happening in the Normandy process.
”Since the decisions are not adopted and the participants of the meetings are not held responsible for the decisions signed and promulgated, it is not easy to say, what role the Normandy format can play in the Ukrainian issue,” Kravchuk said.
In particular, there are no specific signed results because the Russian side refuses to recognize itself as party to the conflict, arguing that the Ukrainians are fighting each other.
”In the meantime, under certain circumstances, the Ukrainian issue could develop into a pan-European issue, or even a wider one – it is about Russia`s violation of the international law, annexation and seizure of territories of the country, located in the center of Europe. Therefore, in my opinion, sooner or later we must move from the Normandy format at least to the Budapest format, involving more countries in the negotiation process,” Kravchuk said.
According to him, it is through the Budapest format that Ukraine will be able to raise the question of the responsibility of those countries (Russia, the UK and the U.S.), which in 1994 signed a memorandum of security assurances to Ukraine because of its accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
He added that the civilized world must take a tougher stance against Russia – ”to make an appropriate statement or warning, to give concrete assessment of what is happening – it is about the aggression, the death of thousands of people, and a huge number of refugees.”
”Perhaps, they believe that Russia will sooner or later realize its mistake and enter the framework of a civilized solution to this problem. But given the peculiarities of the Russian Federation, which has never taken into account moderate democratic statements, there has to be a tougher approach,” Kravchuk stressed.
