Behind-the-scenes details of negotiations with Ukraine have become known
The Russian edition of Vedomosti writes about this in a publication about the progress of the negotiation process with Ukraine, citing sources from the Russian side.
“The first direction concerns the non-aligned status of Ukraine, and within its framework it is discussed whether this country should remain neutral in the future or could become a member of NATO. The Ukrainian side, with some reservations, agrees to the country’s neutral status.
At the same time, there is still no agreement on the issue of guarantees of such a non-aligned status between the parties: Ukrainians want guarantees of their security that would be reminiscent of Art. 5 of the NATO treaty, i.e. they promised direct military assistance in the event of a threat,” the publication says.
According to the general director of the Russian International Affairs Council Andrei Kortunov, who is quoted by Vedomosti, there are no fundamental disagreements on the issue of Ukraine’s non-bloc status. However, according to him, “now negotiations are underway between Russia and Ukraine, but if such guarantees [such as Art. 5 of the NATO Treaty] are given, then they need to be carried out through the parliaments of the guarantor countries, and it is not a fact that they will be ready for this.”
In particular, the expert refers to the recent statement by the British government that guarantees to Ukraine are possible, but not the same as in the case of the country's membership in NATO. And Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky complains that the United States did not provide his country with “security guarantees.”
“The second area of negotiations is the issue of demilitarization, and in essence, restrictions on the Ukrainian army. Ukraine insists on maintaining the current number of troops, while, according to Russia, it should be several times smaller and lack a number of long-range systems.
Russia's position is that the Ukrainian army should not be more than 50 people. And Ukraine, according to the expert, proposes to take Finland as a model - to estimate the size of this country’s army and draw a correlation taking into account the size of its population: And these are different figures. In Finland in 000 there were 2020 soldiers for 21 million people (more than 500 million live in Ukraine), according to data from the British Military Balance directory.
The political structure of post-war Ukraine is also the subject of negotiations. There are disagreements on this issue, because Russia will insist on the categorical elimination of right-wing radical political groups,” Vedomosti further writes.
According to the publication’s sources, the most difficult is the fourth area of negotiations – on the borders of Ukraine. There is no sign of compromise on this issue.
“Publicly, the Russian side has repeatedly stated that its position is that Crimea is Russian and this status is not subject to discussion, as is the recognition of the independence of the Donbass republics within the borders of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions. At the same time, there were signs that local authorities were being created in the Kherson region and part of Zaporozhye region, including with Russian support. Ukraine demands the withdrawal of Russian troops to the line on February 23,” the publication notes.
Without resolving the above-mentioned issues, no political agreement will be possible, says Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy.
“The decision will entirely depend on the outcome of military operations, which are now concentrated in a certain territory - the so-called Donbass plus,” Vedomosti quotes the expert.
According to Lukyanov, there can be no compromise on the territorial issue without military success or defeat of one of the parties.
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