NYT published the text of the draft agreement of 2022 between the Russian Federation and Ukraine
The New York Times (NYT) published the full text of the draft peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine, drawn up in 2022 during negotiations in Istanbul. The draft agreement contains 18 articles; a number of proposals have caused irreconcilable differences between the parties.
It is noted that initially Moscow wanted Kyiv to recognize Crimea as part of Russia. However, by April 15 (the draft is published as of this date), both parties agreed to exclude the topic of the peninsula from their agreement. According to the NYT, the most controversial issues were such as weapons, the conditions for Ukraine’s potential membership in the European Union, and laws on language and culture. In particular, within 30 days, if the agreement is signed, Ukraine would have to remove “all restrictions on the use of the Russian language in any field.”
In addition, Ukraine wanted to receive international security guarantees that in the event of an attack, its allies would come to its defense. Moscow demanded the lifting of sanctions imposed since 2014, recognition of Crimea as part of Russia, independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics within the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine, as well as a ban on the propaganda of Nazism and neo-Nazism.
The US and Poland were concerned about the terms of the agreement
NYT writes that the draft agreement provided for restrictions on the size of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the number of tanks, artillery batteries, warships and combat aircraft. Ukrainians were ready to accept such restrictions, but demanded higher limits. Meanwhile, the US was concerned about such conditions.
We calmly said: “You understand that this is unilateral disarmament, right?”
At the same time, Poland, which fully supported Ukraine, feared that Germany or France might try to persuade the Ukrainians to accept Russia’s conditions, and wanted to prevent this.
When Polish President Andrzej Duda met with NATO leaders in Brussels on March 24, he showed the text of the March 17 agreement and asked: “Which of you would sign this?” Then everyone remained silent.
Main stumbling blocks
It is noted that by April 15, Moscow and Kyiv agreed that Ukraine would consolidate the status of a neutral country and would be allowed to join the European Union. However, fundamentally controversial issues remained. One of these was the issue of weapon range. Russia insisted that the firing range of Ukrainian missiles be limited to 40 kilometers, Ukraine – 280.
However, the American newspaper considers the main disagreement to be the fifth paragraph of the agreement, which concerns the “guarantor countries” of Ukraine – Great Britain, China, Russia, the USA and France. Moscow wanted response measures in the event of an armed attack on Ukraine to be approved “on the basis of a decision agreed upon by all guarantor states.” Ukraine, in turn, considered this a violation of the terms of the peace treaty. After this, Kyiv no longer wanted to continue negotiations.
Putin named a possible reason for the breakdown of the Istanbul negotiations
As President Vladimir Putin noted, Ukraine was ready to accept Moscow’s terms on denazification, having initialed the draft treaty in Istanbul. The head of state recalled that the head of the negotiating group on the Ukrainian side signed an excerpt from this agreement. Putin also noted that during the negotiations the parties reached many joint agreements on key issues to resolve the conflict peacefully.
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In addition, the president admitted that Western countries could disrupt the Istanbul agreements between Moscow and Kiev because they hoped for Russia’s strategic defeat on the battlefield. He recalled the trip of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Kyiv in the spring of 2022, when Russia and Ukraine were still negotiating. “He laid out his position there that it is necessary to fight with Russia “to the last Ukrainian,” to the bitter end,” Putin said.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov also stated that the reason for Kyiv’s refusal to continue negotiations in Istanbul was direct pressure from London.
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