Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said the “radical” reduction in military operations around kyiv and Chernigov sought to “increase confidence in the face of further talks” after more than a month of hostilities in Ukraine that have left thousands of deaths and some 10 million refugees or displaced persons. However, it was made clear that this will not mean a ceasefire.
Speaking to the press at the end of the dialogue in the Turkish city of Istanbul, the first in person in two weeks, Fomin added that the decision was made because “negotiations on a neutrality agreement and the non-nuclear status of Ukraine enter into a practical dimension.
The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinksi, said that Russia also proposed holding a meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, simultaneously with the authentication of a peace agreement by the foreign ministers of both countries.
Proposal
The Ukrainian negotiator David Arajamia, for his part, presented a detailed set of proposals with a view to signing a peace agreement by virtue of which his country would renounce joining NATO, the military alliance led by the United States, for which it would adopt a neutral status, as demanded by Moscow.
Arajamia clarified that, in return, Ukraine wants several countries – including Russia itself, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, Turkey and Poland, among others – to be guarantors of the final peace agreement, which will force them to provide aid. to Ukraine in the event of an external attack, after a maximum of three days of consultations.
The Ukrainian negotiator confirmed that the security guarantees requested by Ukraine will not apply to Crimea or to the part of Donbas where the separatists of the Russian-speaking provinces of Lugansk and Donetsk have proclaimed “people’s republics” whose independence was recognized by Russia days before invading Ukraine. on February 24.
Arajamia said that Ukraine would agree to discuss with Russia the sovereignty of Crimea and Donbas for a period of 15 years.
Enthusiasm
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Turkish-sponsored negotiations had yielded the “most significant advances” since the war began, and that the sides had reached “mutual consensus and understanding” on some of the most important issues.
He added that the talks in Istanbul, which will not continue today as planned, will be followed by a meeting between the foreign ministers of the opposing countries on an unspecified date. A meeting between Putin and Zelensky is also “on the agenda,” he added.
Russian oligarch and owner of the English soccer club Chelsea, Roman Abramovich, subject to Western sanctions, was present as a trusted intermediary for the Kremlin, which worked hard to refute reports that he had been poisoned earlier this month.
Despite the explicit skepticism of the United States, as soon as the result of the negotiations in Istanbul was known, the European stock markets gained between 2 and 3%, while the price of oil plummeted 5% and the ruble, the Russian currency, fell. appreciated 10%.
clashes
The relaxation, however, is not complete. In the commercial sphere, Russia affirmed that this Thursday it will have the operation ready to accept only rubles as payment for the gas it sells to the European Union (EU), a decision that was described as “unacceptable” by the Group of 7 (G -7) main industrial countries. “No one is going to hand out free gas. It’s not possible. And you can only pay in rubles,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said yesterday.
In the military, just as the negotiators were meeting in Turkey, a Russian attack hit the government headquarters of a province in southern Ukraine in the port city of Mikolaiv, on the Black Sea, near Odessa, the country’s main port.
Also, Zelenski said that seven people died and 22 were wounded in the bombing in Mikolaiv, capital
of the province of the same name.
Provincial Governor Vitaliy Kim posted a photo of the nine-story building with a gaping hole in the center of the facade.
Source: Ambito
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