Russia pursues its own specific objectives, and as of today it is difficult to talk about its sincere commitment to the peaceful resolution of the situation in Donbas, Deputy head of the Ukrainian president`s administration Kostiantyn Yeliseyev said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
Firstly, in the short term, Russia seeks to maintain the so-called ”controlled escalation” in Donbas, he said.
”The second goal of the medium-term plan is to launch a flywheel of federalization in Ukraine in order to divide and eventually ruin our country,” Yeliseyev said.
And the long-term goal is based on the well-known Russian president`s phrase that the greatest tragedy of the 20th century was the collapse of the Soviet Union.
”Note, [Vladimir Putin says] it was not World War I and not World War II, but the collapse of the Soviet Union… Of course, his goal remains in place – to restore a new Soviet Union in some form, and Ukraine is the ”sweetest piece of pie”, he added.