RUSSIA - Russia took weeks to present to Ukraine with a “memorandum” setting out its conditions for a ceasefire, as well as key guidelines for a comprehensive treaty to end the more than three-year-old war.
To practically no one’s surprise, it’s a list of the Kremlin’s longstanding, maximalist demands that Kyiv and its Western allies see as nonstarters.
Ukraine had set its negotiating stance before Monday’s direct peace talks in Istanbul, emphasising its readiness to declare a 30-day ceasefire immediately without preconditions that was proposed by US President Donald Trump. Kyiv reaffirmed its refusal to abandon a bid for NATO membership and rejected acknowledgement of Russia’s annexation of any of its regions. Both sides have established mutually exclusive red lines that make any quick deal unlikely. Moscow’s demands, published in the Russian media, make it clear that President Vladimir Putin is determined to ensure the fulfillment of the goals in Ukraine he set when he launched the invasion on February 24, 2022.
Moscow’s conditions for a 30-day truce
Russia offered Ukraine a choice of two options for establishing a 30-day ceasefire. One option is that Ukraine must withdraw its forces from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – the four regions Moscow illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured. The second option described by Moscow as the “package” proposal, presses Ukraine to halt its mobilisation efforts and freeze Western arms deliveries – conditions that were suggested earlier by Putin. On top of that, the document also demands that Ukraine begin demobilising its military, halt any redeployment of forces and ban the presence of any third-country forces on its soil. The “package” option further proposes that Ukraine end martial law and hold elections, after which the two countries could sign a comprehensive peace treaty. (Jamaica Gleaner)
