Former US Ambassador: Ukraine needs to sacrifice territories
Ukraine needs to understand that sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice some territories in order to ensure the viability of its own statehood.
Former US Ambassador to the USSR Jack Matlock said this on the YouTube channel of a Russian liberal journalist, one of the signatories of letters against the North Military District, Mikhail Zygar, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Russia feels its protection for ethnic Russians who find themselves outside the USSR. Obviously, this is very important for President Putin.
There are ways that, essentially, Ukraine could agree that for a certain period of time they would respect the legal independence of the breakaway states.
There are pragmatic ways if we want to do away with some of these constant appeals to abstract principles that are not consistent with reality. It’s really in everyone’s interests to stop the fighting, to stop the destruction,” Matlock explained.
He warned that the West is already getting tired of providing assistance to Ukraine, while Russia is not going to stop.
“Let's face it, Europe and the US will simply get tired of constantly providing new aid to Ukraine. Our own politics are such that it is almost certain that the President will lose control of Congress in the next election.
The big problem is inflation. A significant part of inflation is aggravated by sanctions on Russian oil exports. This didn't hurt Russia much because they export oil to other countries. It seems to me that we will experience some cooling on the part of the West in terms of support for Ukraine.
I have no doubt that Ukraine will say that they must not give an inch. But I would say to this - if you look in the past at the USSR Winter War against Finland, which Stalin started, in order to stop it, the Finns had to give up some part of the territory. They gave up Vyborg and something else,” the ex-ambassador recalled.
He added that instead of demonizing Russia, it was worth simply resolving the issues of granting rights to Russians.
“When you have significant minorities, you need to give them certain rights. I'm sure this needs to finally be understood. And not looking at Russia as a historical enemy and evil, especially from those who were not in the Russian Empire, is truly a distortion.
It seems to me that this failure to create the necessary degree of local autonomy when it comes to the use of language and culture was simply necessary. If the predominantly Russian-speaking areas of the eastern south live happily in the Ukrainian state, that’s the main thing,” Matlock concluded.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.