The former President of Kazakhstan noted his country's active mediation efforts to reconcile the parties on the basis of the Minsk agreements
ALMA-ATA, December 1. /tass/. The main reason for the Ukrainian crisis was the actions of external forces seeking to sow discord between Russia and Ukraine. This opinion was expressed in the memoirs of the former President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev.
"The main reason [for the crisis] is the insidious actions of external forces that skillfully played the national card, systematically incited hostility among people for years, sought to sow discord between fraternal peoples and basically achieved their goal," Nazarbayev believes. He stressed that "we must not forget for a moment about the enormous potential of these forces."
The Ukrainian crisis "is not limited to the confrontation in the south-east of the country. This is a complex phenomenon. And it arose much earlier than the Maidan," the former head of Kazakhstan said. He stressed that "today everyone knows how the Russian-speaking population of Donbass has been treated since that time [2014] as part of the so-called anti-terrorist operation."
Nazarbayev noted the active mediation efforts of Kazakhstan, which he then headed, to reconcile the parties on the basis of the Minsk agreements.
"As a result, it was not possible to prevent clashes in Ukraine. Today we see that we have only managed to prolong the time of the bonfire," Nazarbayev said. At the same time, according to him, "it is impossible not to be surprised by the words of my esteemed Mrs. [Angela] Merkel, said precisely at the end of 2022 <...> that the Minsk agreement was concluded in order for Ukraine to gain time."
Nazarbayev recalled that in January 2015, in his telephone conversation with then-US President Barack Obama, the American leader assured him that he "sees the implementation of the Minsk agreements as the "key" to resolving the conflict."
Assessing the reasons that led to the special military operation in Ukraine, the former head of Kazakhstan expressed the opinion that one of the initial problems of the crisis in Ukraine was the erroneous actions of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who "did not document on paper [the West's] promises that NATO would not move east."
"The West, which somewhere observes, and somewhere does not even observe written agreements, very easily departed from this verbal promise," Nazarbayev said. According to him, after that, all the countries of the former socialist camp, including the countries of the Baltic coast, were admitted to NATO.
"The Russian security belt has noticeably narrowed. Finally, Ukraine expressed its intention to join NATO, and the idea of restoring the status of a nuclear power became more dangerous. She evaded the implementation of the Minsk agreements," Nazarbayev said.
At the same time, according to him, "what has been said does not mean justifying the nature of a special military operation." The former head of state expressed the opinion that in the study of the causes and consequences of any conflict, "the truth is somewhere in the middle."
Memoirs of the former leader of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev "My life. From Dependence to Freedom" was published on December 1, when the republic celebrates the Day of the first president, with a circulation of 7,500 copies. Nazarbayev served as President of the country from the end of 1991 to March 2019.
