At the conclusion of his remarks to senior officials at the Foreign Ministry, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented his proposals for ending the war with Ukraine. These include withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, whose populations voted in September 2022 to become part of the Russian Federation. These four entities plus Crimea must be recognized as part of Russia. Ukraine must renounce any plans to join NATO and commit to remaining neutral, non-aligned, non-nuclear, demilitarized and denazified. Putin emphasized that this is not a proposal for a “frozen” conflict—simply stopping the conflict—during which the U.S. and its allies would most certainly try to rearm and bolster the Ukrainian military.
These are not new conditions. As Putin explained, they had been agreed to in 2022 during peace talks in Belarus and Istanbul, before the peace agreement was sabotaged. Once these conditions are met, and when troop withdrawal begins, Russia will declare a ceasefire and be ready for negotiations. The proposal also states that the conditions established by Russia should be recognized internationally, such that unilateral sanctions would be removed.
The Russian President noted that if Ukraine and the West refuse the offer, they will be morally responsible for continued bloodshed and a change on the battlefield “not in favor of the Kiev regime.” But, he continued, “we are counting on Kiev to make such a decision on withdrawal, neutral status and dialogue with Russia, on which the future existence of Ukraine depends, independent of the current realities and guided by the true interests of the Ukrainian people and not on Western orders.”
According to TASS today Konstantin Gavrilov, who is Russia’s chief delegate to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, announced that he will shortly present the Kiev government with the document on its surrender to Russia. “There are points of no return. The next thing that Russia will have to offer will be the document about [the Kiev government’s] surrender,” he said.
