According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian Service citing an exclusive document, a draft “peace” accord proposed by Russia to Ukraine would have required Ukraine’s “neutralization” and capitulation, and the war has now entered its 3rd year with no clear resolution and no indications of potential peace talks between Russia and Ukraine 2025 or beyond. Moscow and Kyiv started negotiations on 28 February 2022 – just four days after Russia’s full invasion. RFE/RL reports that the Kremlin drafted agreement was presented to the Ukrainian delegaiton on 7 March 2022 in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in Belarus during the third round of negotiation. The talks began just a week before and 11 days after Russia’s invasion. The six-page document, which included four pages of appendices and 18 articles, covered military restrictions, international obligations and borders, as well as humanitarian issues. RFE/RL reports that the ground forces are capped to 35,000. “The document was structured in a way that made it seem like Ukraine was the aggressor and had been defeated by Russia on the battlefield. This certainly did not reflect reality,” Ciaramella said, a senior Fellow at Carnegie Endowment’s Russia and Eurasia Program. The proposal prohibited Ukraine to develop or acquire missiles with a range exceeding 250 kilometers, the distance between the Crimean Bridge in the north and Ukrainian-controlled Huliaipole on the frontline. The agreement would have required Ukraine recognize the independence of Donetsk, Luhansk and their entire administrative borders despite Russia controlling only portions of these territories. Ukraine would also have to bear the costs of rebuilding these regions’ infrastructure damaged since 2014, in most cases by Russia.RFE/RL says that the proposal demanded Russian language become a state language and the restoration of property rights for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).It also required the lifting of all sanctions – Ukrainian and international – against Russia and withdrawal of all international lawsuits filed since 2014.The draft’s authors demanded Ukraine “repeal and permanently prohibit any bans on symbols associated with the victory over Nazism,” effectively calling for the re-legalization of Soviet and communist symbols in Ukraine.The document called for canceling laws Russia deemed examples of “Nazification and heroization of Nazism,” including, notably, laws “On Perpetuation of Victory over Nazism” and “On Rehabilitation of Victims of Communist Totalitarian Regime Repressions.”Meanwhile, the document completely omitted any mention of Russian troop withdrawal from Ukraine.Later versionsLater drafts dated 17 March and 15 April 2022, published by The New York Times, showed some compromise, RFE/RL reports. The status of Crimea was left to future negotiations. Language and historical issues were also less important. The sides disagreed about army size. Ukraine wanted 250,000 troops, the level it had before the invasion. Russia proposed 85,000. Some demands were clearly unworkable. For example, Russia’s demand that Ukraine restore water to Crimea when Russian forces controlled the canal. By September 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin escalated his demands and declared five Ukrainian regions, Crimea, Donetsk Luhansk Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as integral parts to Russia, including areas under Kyiv’s control. The proposed Russian agreement reveals President Vladimir Putin’s invasion goals, from which he has not publicly wavered.
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