Ukraine is ready to adopt a neutral status in exchange for guarantees on its security, a proposal apparently well received by Moscow who has announced to reduce his military activity on kyiv. But the Westerners remain cautious until no ceasefire is pronounced.
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Progress is notable. However, they remain declarative and, despite unprecedented progress in the Russian-Ukrainian talks, the doubt remains about the real intentions of Moscow. At the end of a new negotiation session held on Tuesday, March 29 in the Ottoman Palace of Dolmabahce in Istanbul, Turkey, the Kremlin promised to drastically reduce its military activities in the north of the country and around kyiv. While the Ukrainian part was able to share strong demands. But by showing relatively conciliatory more than a month after the start of an intervention against Ukraine who has been widely stamped, the Russian side could simply seek time.
For their part, the Ukrainian negotiators arrived with a draft agreement whose central point is that their country would opt for a status of neutrality, renouncing the NATO and to host foreign bases on its soil, in exchange of guarantees for its security. According to David Arakhamia, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, they must be as strong as those offered by Article 5 of the Atlantic Alliance Treaty calling on the solidarity of members in the event of an attack on one of them. . Three NATO member countries – Turkey, Poland and Canada – have been cited as possible guarantor states. In addition, kyiv intends to receive guarantees for its integration into the European Union (EU).
The thorny subjects, the statutes of Crimee annexed by Russia and the Donbass territories controlled by Prorussian separatists since 2014, should also be the subject of separate and long-term negotiations. kyiv insists that any peace agreement will have to be approved by referendum, which implies the withdrawal of the Russian forces of the occupied areas. “We arrive almost today at positions that can be endorsed by the Russian Federation and the guarantor countries,” Mykhailo Podolyak, a member of the Ukrainian delegation. For its part, the head of the Russian delegation and representative of Kremlin, Vladimir Medinski, reported “substantial discussions” and says that the “clear” proposals of Ukraine for an agreement would be “studied very soon. and submitted to the President “Vladimir Putin.
” Big doubts about the sincerity of the Russians “
According to him, a meeting of Ukrainian leaders, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Russian, Vladimir Putin, and representatives of guarantor states, would be possible in case of agreement to put an end to hostilities. “This is the most significant progress since the beginning of the negotiations,” said Mevlüt Cavusoglu, the head of Turkish diplomacy, whose country welcomes the direct negotiations between Russians and Ukrainians. “From now on, he will come back to the Foreign Ministers of the two countries to meet to resolve the most difficult questions,” he concluded, indicating that the talks “would not resume” Wednesday, contrary to what was planned.
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