Putin’s three new demands do not seem impossible to fulfill
28 May 21:15
Vladimir Putin has formulated his conditions for ending the war against Ukraine in a new way. According to Reuters, citing three Russian sources familiar with the negotiations, there are three main demands, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
Putin’s three demands
The Kremlin’s main demand is to receive written guarantees from the leading Western powers that they will not expand NATO to the east. In fact, this means an official rejection of NATO membership for Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics. The requirement of a written commitment is something new from Putin.
The second key condition concerns the lifting of a significant part of the economic sanctions imposed on Russia after the start of full-scale aggression. Moscow also demands that the issue of frozen Russian sovereign assets in the West, which were seized in response to the invasion, be resolved.
The third demand is to ensure the protection of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine. The Kremlin insists on guarantees of the rights of Russian-speaking citizens, which could become the basis for future claims and interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs.
“Putin is ready for peace, but not at any price,”
– said the Russian official.
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One Russian source warned that if Putin realizes that peace cannot be achieved on his own terms, he will demonstrate to Ukrainians and Europeans with military victories that
“peace will be even more painful tomorrow.”
At the same time, one source said that the Russian leader’s position on territorial issues has become tougher than in previous statements. Putin is now supposedly less inclined to compromise on territorial issues and insists on full control over the four regions of Ukraine that Russia considers its own. At the same time, this point was not mentioned by the sources as one of the key ones.
Is it possible to fulfill them?
Nevertheless, if we ignore the absolutely unrealistic condition of 4 regions, the three main conditions no longer look fantastic. After all, Ukraine is not accepted into NATO anyway, as the US government and even the Alliance’s Secretary General have said. The lifting of some of the sanctions against Russia also seems to be planned by Trump as a reward for Russians for murder and atrocities. And to “protect the Russian-speaking population,” Ukraine may simply need to declare its desire to comply with one of the many international conventions.
As a reminder, the “peace” talks in Istanbul ended in nothing after Russia voiced its demand that four Ukrainian regions be handed over to it in full, otherwise the next time it will be about 5 or 6 regions.
During Putin’s phone call with Trump, the Russian leader promised the US president to prepare his proposals for a memorandum of intent to cease fire, but so far Russia has not even done that. Instead, after the latest shelling of Kyiv, Trump has been speaking more harshly about Putin. He has even threatened Russia with “big problems” if it does not move toward a ceasefire.
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