There's no point to expect a large-scale war in Donbas this summer, but escalation of the conflict is possible, Head of the Center for Applied Political Studies Board Penta Volodymyr Fesenko has said.

According to him, Russian President Vladimir Putin offers partnership to the West, so a large-scale war in Donbas would be counterproductive.

"Local conflict escalations could take place Donbas, but Putin is expecting that the West will reduce and mitigate the sanctions against Russia, not immediately, but towards the end of the year. A serious aggravation of the war in Donbas will frustrate all [Putin's] sanctions policy," the expert said during the press conference on Friday.

Fesenko said not to expect changes in the next several years in Russia's policy towards Crimea. He said the Russian Federation has removed the Crimea issue from the negotiations agenda with the West.