On June 9 , Russia’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky appeared on a new interview show, “Journalistically Speaking with Rick Sanchez” hosted by American journalist Rick Sanchez, during which Medinsky asserted that Kiev could have had a much better peace in February 2022, had the regime not caved in to external pressure. “I’m going to tell you something, Rick, that I’ve probably never said publicly. If Ukraine had wanted it, had been ready, and had been making its own decisions, we could have signed a peace treaty during the first meeting on February 28, 2022. And the terms would have been less harsh than what we’re offering today,” he said.
Medinsky stated that Ukrainian officials initially accepted Russia’s terms but reversed course after consulting with the U.S. and U.K. According to him, Ukrainian negotiators told the Russian side: “Our foreign partners don’t support the agreement and will not guarantee aid or security if we sign it.”
“So we’ll fight until either you defeat us or we defeat you,” the Ukrainian delegation reportedly said, according to Medinsky.
The Ukrainian side became even “less independent” when direct talks resumed in Istanbul last month, Medinsky said, arguing that Kiev’s European allies were pushing it to act against its own interests. Russia has demanded that Ukraine recognize its new borders, abandon plans to join NATO, and guarantee the rights of the Russian-speaking minority.
