#Wall #Street #Journal #conditions #Putin #war
It is noted that according to 2022 April 15 Negotiators from both sides tried to end hostilities by agreeing to make Ukraine a “permanently neutral state not participating in military blocs,” denying it the ability to rebuild its military with Western support, and leaving Crimea under de facto Russian control.
According to the draft contract:
Ukraine should have been allowed to seek EU membership but not be allowed to join military alliances such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The draft treaty included a ban on foreign weapons, “including any type of missile weapons, armed forces and formations.”
Ukraine’s armed forces had to be reduced to a certain size, and Russia sought to limit everything from the number of troops and tanks to the maximum range of Ukraine’s missiles. Moscow wanted Ukraine’s armed forces to be no more than 85,000 soldiers, 342 tanks and 519 artillery pieces. According to the document, the Ukrainian side of the negotiations demanded 250,000 troops, 800 tanks and 1,900 artillery pieces. Russia wanted the range of Ukrainian missiles to be limited to 40 kilometers.
The Crimean peninsula would remain under Russian occupation and would not be considered neutral.
Moscow has also insisted that the Russian language should operate on an equal footing with Ukrainian in government institutions and courts, which Kiev has not agreed to, according to the draft document.
2014 was not included in the project. The future of the Russian-occupied eastern regions of Ukraine. This issue should have been discussed during private negotiations between V. Putin and V. Zelensky.
The agreement had to be secured by foreign countries, among which the document mentions the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France and Russia. These countries were obliged to defend the neutrality of Ukraine in case of violation of the treaty. But while the treaty was in force, the guarantor countries had to “terminate international treaties and agreements incompatible with the continued neutrality of Ukraine,” including any pledges of bilateral military aid. At the same time, international security guarantees should not have been applied to Crimea and Sevastopol.
“Other questions remain unresolved, especially what would happen if Ukraine were attacked. Russia wanted all guarantor states to agree on a response, which meant that a unified response was unlikely if Russia itself were the aggressor. If Ukraine were to be attacked, Ukrainian negotiators wanted its airspace closed, which would have required state guarantors to ensure a no-fly zone and arms guarantees from states, which Russia did not agree to, The Wall Street Journal wrote.
Russia wanted to include Belarus as a guarantor, Ukraine – Turkey. Ukrainian negotiators have italicized text indicating they have refused to discuss Russia’s clause requiring Kiev to drop its claim to be under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes war crimes, the document said. Nor did they ratify the clause lifting all reciprocal sanctions.
“The document shows what great concessions the negotiators on the Ukrainian side were ready to make when Kiev found itself in a difficult position in the first weeks of the war. It also reminds of the compromises that Russia may try to force Ukraine to make if Western military support disappears and Russia achieves significant territorial gains,” the publication concludes.
Prepared by Unian inf.
