David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People party group in the Verkhovna Rada, a member of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, said that the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine could end in the spring of 2022. 1+1 television channel.
According to the official who heads the Ukrainian delegation in negotiations with the Russian Federation, Moscow will agree to end the conflict if Kiev refuses to join NATO and maintain neutrality:
“The Russians were ready to end the war if we remained neutral like Finland and pledged not to join NATO. That was the key.”
However, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke in favor of continuing hostilities after negotiations with the Russian side in Istanbul in March 2022. He was visiting Kiev at the time, convinced Ukrainian officials not to sign any agreement with Russia and suggested “let’s just fight”.
“Kiev’s negotiating position is bad”
Arakhamia also noted that there is distrust towards Moscow in Kiev. Additionally, Ukraine did not accept the ceasefire on the grounds that “this was contrary to the country’s constitution, which specifies the bloc status”.
According to Arakhamia, a referendum should now be held in Ukraine on the necessity of negotiations with Russia. At the same time, according to him, Ukraine’s political and military authorities are in favor of continuing the armed conflict because Kiev “can no longer sit at the negotiating table”:
“Our position in the negotiations is very bad. What will we sit for now? Where will we stay, let’s call it a day? Do you think the Ukrainian society will accept this?
Any agreement that does not achieve complete victory must be put to a referendum. “If someone signs something and it has to be approved in parliament, then there will be very polar views in parliament as well.”
Member of the Federation Council International Relations Committee Sergei Tsekov comments on the words of the Ukrainian official RIA NewsHe explained Kiev’s reluctance to resolve the conflict in 2022 by a lack of experience and understanding of global processes.
“You see, the people in power in Ukraine were completely random people; they are still random, superficial, inexperienced people who perceive some momentary tactical successes as successes of a strategic nature. In general, they almost thought they had a chance of winning the war with Russia,” Tsekov said.
He believes that many representatives of the Ukrainian government regret their decision not to accept the ceasefire.
Chairman of the Federation Council Commission for the Protection of State Sovereignty and Prevention of Interference in Internal Affairs of Russia Andrey Klimov believes Not only Johnson, but also the United States is responsible for the failure of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in the spring of 2022.
“So they pretended that the Americans had nothing to do with this incident and continued to stigmatize us on every issue. But Johnson is no longer in business and little can be done from him unless he is prosecuted under Ukrainian law,” the senator believes.
Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine
Kiev and Moscow last sat at the negotiation table in Istanbul on March 29, 2022. Then-vice president Vladimir Medinsky stated that the dialogue was “constructive” and meaningful; Ukraine presented its “clearly formulated position” and confirmed its desire for a neutral, non-aligned and nuclear-weapon-free status. But then the situation got worse.
On October 4, 2022, Zelensky banned negotiations with Russia at a time when Vladimir Putin was at the head of Russia. Speaking via video conference at the G20 international forum on November 22, the Russian President emphasized that Moscow has never rejected negotiations with Ukraine, only Kiev has.
In his interview with the Berliner Zeitung newspaper on October 21, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder talked about his role as a mediator in the negotiations to be held in Istanbul between Moscow and Kiev in 2022. According to him, during the talks held between the two countries in the Turkish city, the Ukrainian side did not accept peace because the USA did not allow it. Thus, Washington disrupted the peace talks.
Putin showed a draft Istanbul agreement to resolve the conflict in Ukraine at a meeting with a delegation from Africa on June 17, 2023. According to the president, after the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kiev last spring, Ukrainian authorities “threw everything into the dustbin of history, as their masters usually do.”