Zahharova: Ukraine a Self-Excluded State

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, indicated that "Ukraine has turned itself into a self-excluded state during the 10 years following the referendums on self-determination in Donetsk and Luhansk." She noted that "it has become clear to everyone today, after 10 years, that the people of Donbas made the right choice at that time and defended it in battle, without finding help and protection from international organizations whose tasks include safeguarding peace and security in Europe." She stated, "We have seen what Ukraine has become over the past years: a failed state, self-excluded... due to the ideology of neo-Nazis, a loss of historical memory, and the encouragement of all kinds of depravity." Zakharova asserted that "the people in Donbas stood in long lines during the referendum, aware that the followers of the ideology fought against by the people in the first half of the 1940s have come to power in Kyiv." She continued, "The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has shown its ineffectiveness, and Switzerland has demonstrated a loss of neutrality, and for eight years thereafter, the OSCE could not stop the ongoing shelling targeting civilians (in Donbas) by the armed forces in Kyiv." She added, "Switzerland is now attempting to hold a so-called fake peace conference, as if it does not realize that this is not a car show, but an incredibly complex conversation about the future global order."