Foreign Minister of Ukraine Spoke about the Military Way for the Donbas Settlement

At a press conference in Brussels after participating in the hearings of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko spoke about an alternative, military solution to the conflict in Donbas. In his opinion, if you do not follow the way of implementing the Steinmeier formula, then you need to trim a third of Ukraine’s budget, planned for social payments, and steer it to the army’s mobilization. The Steinmeier formula, named for the former Foreign Minister of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, implies the entry into force of the law on the special status of Donbas after holding elections there, which should be recognized by the OSCE as fair and free. “I have already told our deputies that if they take this seriously (rejecting the Steinmeier formula – “Kommersant”), then we take a third of the budget out of pensions, salaries, medical insurance, steer it to mobilization and to our army and try protect yourself without a peace process,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (quoted by Strana.ua). According to Mr. Prystaiko, the government should choose from the available solutions to the problem and offer the people the most appropriate one. The signing of the Steinmeier formula in early October caused a wave of mass protests in Ukraine. The action participants insist on the need to abandon the plans to withdraw troops from the demarcation line, to prevent the granting of special status to certain areas of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, and to ensure that the issue on the return of Crimea is included in the negotiation agenda. Kommersant