By Lawal Sale
Andrey Podelyshev, the Russian Ambassador to Nigeria has urged the global community to look back and recall the incident of 2014 as the root cause of instability currently affecting Ukraine, insisting that without addressing the “root causes” of the conflict, no meaningful progress will be achieved in resolving the conflict in the Donbas region.
Speaking to the press in Abuja, Podelyshev rejected the Western narrative that Russia’s actions in February 2022 marked the beginning of an unprovoked war.
Rather, he gave details of what he described as the true genesis of the crisis – tracing it back to the 2014 so called orange revolution in Kiev.
“According to the narrative promoted by the Western countries, the conflict is considered to begin in February 2022, when Russia allegedly ‘launched an unprovoked and aggressive war against peaceful Ukraine’,” Podelyshev said.
“In this context as presented by the Western countries, the events of February 2022 are usually analyzed without reference to what has occurred in and around Ukraine during the previous eight years starting in 2014.”
The Ambassador described the 2014 ouster of then-President Viktor Yanukovych as an “unconstitutional coup d’état,” asserting that Western countries not only supported the opposition but actively enabled Ukraine’s descent into civil strife.
He accused Ukraine’s post-2014 leadership of pursuing a deliberate campaign of marginalization and discrimination against Russian-speaking citizens in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine.
The ambassador blamed the West for portraying the Minsk Agreements as a genuine attempt at peace, arguing that they were instead used as a “temporary pause” to arm Ukraine for war.
He recalled statements by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President François Hollande in support of this claim.
The envoy maintained that Russia remains committed to a peaceful resolution but emphasized that conditions must be met, including the elimination of threats to Russia’s security and a genuine commitment to compromise.
He stressed that the international community should look beyond the western headlines and understand Russia’s position, stating that Russia did not initiate any intervention or aggression but rather sought to bring it to an end to the stalemate.
Donbas comprises of Russian speaking regions of Donetsk, Lughansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south eastern Ukraine.
It will be recalled that in late September 2022 the local authorities in the region held a referendum in favour of joining Russia with overwhelming results.
The referendums have been widely condemned by the international community, especially the European nations and the US terming them a “sham” and saying they will not be recognized.
— Sale is Global Affairs Analyst
