30 June 2021, Wednesday, 18:40 358

Russians Cannot Be Indigenous People Of Ukraine Since They Have Their Own State - Foreign Ministry

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that Russians cannot be recognized as the indigenous people of Ukraine, since they have their own state.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced this in response to the Direct Line with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"The indigenous peoples of Ukraine are the Crimean Tatars, Krymchaks, Karaites. The Russians are a national minority whose rights are protected by the Constitution on an equal basis with others. They cannot be an indigenous people, since they have their own state. Alternative inventions are a classic of Russian manipulations," he wrote on Twitter.

During the Direct Line with the People, Putin again criticized the bill on the indigenous peoples of Ukraine submitted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Putin has previously stated that this Zelenskyy’s bill resembles Nazi practices.

He called the Ukrainian authorities unfriendly to Russia and cited this project as an example, but at the same time noted that he did not consider the Ukrainian people unfriendly.

"Nothing of the kind. We are one whole," the Russian President said.

Kuleba also reacted to this phrase.

"Ukrainians and Russians are two different peoples. We could live in the spirit of good neighborliness, but in 2014 the Russian Federation attacked Ukraine, killed thousands of people and grabbed a piece of territory. Vladimir Putin, who unleashed the aggression, bears full responsibility for the gap between Ukrainians and Russians," wrote the minister.

Putin also assured that he is not against meeting with Zelenskyy, but does not understand what exactly they can discuss with him.

"Well, for what to meet with Zelenskyy if he gave his country under full external control? The key issues of Ukraine's life are decided not in Kyiv, but in Washington, partly in Berlin and Paris. Well, what to talk about? Nevertheless, I do not refuse meetings of this kind. You just need to understand what to talk about," he said

The Minister of Foreign Affairs also did not disregard these words of the President of the Russian Federation.

"When Putin starts the same old thing about "external control", it means only one thing: he dreams that the issues of Ukraine are resolved in Moscow. The position of President Zelenskyy and the will of the Ukrainian people is clear: this is our country, and no one will decide our fate except us themselves," Kuleba wrote.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Zelenskyy hopes that his planned meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden and with Putin will provide an alternative to the Normandy Format (Ukraine, Russia, Germany, France) or the Minsk Agreements to resolve the situation in Donbas.