Former French President Francois Hollande said that the Minsk agreements concluded by the leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine allowed Kiev to build up its military power.
Hollande's statement is quoted by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The ex-president of France said: “The time given to Ukraine by the Minsk agreements allowed it to build up its military power.”
In addition, the politician noted the need to stop the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, even though it was being built, and Western companies they had to leave Russia much earlier.
Before that, Angela Merkel, who served as chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021, also admitted that “the Minsk agreement in 2014 was an attempt to give Ukraine time” to become stronger.
Hollande and Merkel participated in the meetings of the Normandy Four, where measures to implement the Minsk agreements were agreed upon. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said during a visit to Kiev in late January that the Normandy format was a “diplomatic imitation”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that the politicians who signed the Minsk agreements openly admitted that they were needed to preparation for war against the Russian Federation.