The Kremlin rejects the European peace plan and consensual proposals between the United States and Ukraine and uses Washington’s original proposal, which left Kiev on the brink of capitulation, as a starting point for negotiations. Moscow took a stand on Monday after intense negotiations in Europe last weekend and stressed that there is no deal yet.
“The Kremlin knows about the European peace plan. Its provisions are unconstructive and inadequate for Russia,” said Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser. Previously, the Russian leader had reiterated, in a meeting with the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that Donald Trump’s original proposal “could serve as the basis, in principle, for the final peace agreement”.
The original initiative launched by Washington included 28 points which included the handover of entire regions of Donetsk and Lugansk to Russia, the “freezing” of the conflict in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and the absolute refusal of Ukraine’s entry into NATO. After Sunday’s meeting of the Kiev and Washington delegations in Geneva, the new peace plan was narrowed down to 19 points and included some of the main Ukrainian demands, according to the British newspaper Financial times. The newspaper RBC Ukraine He adds for his part that both the provisions on the territories and Kiev’s non-membership of NATO were left to a subsequent debate at presidential level.
“We have received a draft. And, of course, it will be subject to review and modification by us and, most likely, by Ukraine and the American and European sides,” Ushakov explained. “Russia is aware of one of the options in the American peace plan, but no concrete negotiations have been conducted,” the diplomat added.
Putin’s advisor criticized the alternative proposed by the European Union, whose plan provides for security guarantees for Ukraine similar to NATO’s Article 5 (protection with military intervention in the event of a new invasion) from European partners and the United States. However, Ushakov showed some appreciation for the Trump administration’s first proposal.
“Many, I wouldn’t say all, but many, of the provisions of this plan seem completely acceptable to us. Others, and there are many – there are 28 points – require in-depth debate and consideration between the parties”, explained the diplomat.
Peace negotiations had cooled since Putin and Trump met in Alaska in August. Faced with US attempts to quickly end the war, the Kremlin has responded in recent months that peace must resolve “the root causes of the conflict”. That is, fulfill all Russian goals, disarm Kiev and bring Ukraine back under its sphere of influence.
The new peace plan has reactivated these conversations, albeit in a confusing way. Indeed, the origin of the original American draft is uncertain. Some media speculate that it could be a document sent from Moscow to Washington. Several Republican senators said over the weekend that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told them the original plan was a Russian “wish list.” Rubio later refuted this accusation.
In any case, the Kremlin does not want to speed up the negotiations. Putin said last Friday that the 28-point plan needs to be reviewed “comprehensively” and appears “comfortable” with the development of his invasion, which aims to surpass the duration of the Soviet Great Patriotic War against the Third Reich in less than two months.
Putin showed interest in the original American draft and reiterated this Monday that the plan “can serve as a basis” for achieving peace.
“Vladímir Putin told (Erdogan) that these proposals, as they were formulated when the Russian side examined them, are in line with what was discussed during the Alaska summit between Russia and the United States,” reads the statement released by the Kremlin on the conversation with the Turkish leader.
However, the North American proposal has not sparked any kind of euphoria in Russian political circles. Senior officials remained silent, even the most talkative ones, such as former President Dmitry Medvedev, and only one Duma deputy expressed what many think. “It is a provocation (…) The conflict can only be completely resolved if we achieve a clear victory on the front and Ukraine capitulates. Any other outcome will only postpone the war,” Alexei Zhuravlev, first deputy chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma, said this weekend.
The Kremlin is trying to bring negotiations back to the right point reached with Trump during the presidential meeting in Alaska, at which time he managed to avoid the first sanctions of the new American administration. However, the White House eventually lost patience with its entanglements in the negotiations and sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, in October.
According to his opinion in the independent media Mozhem Obiasnit According to Putin’s former speaker Abbas Galiamov, Trump’s haphazard peace plan “may simply be a show” with which to try to ingratiate himself with the Russian president after having “literally outlawed” the foreign activities of his oil companies. “For Putin this represents a serious blow not only financially, but also reputationally in the eyes of his elite”, he adds.
Currently, US sanctions have caused Russia to earn 35% less oil exports in November than a year earlier, according to estimates from the British news agency Reuters. Significant damage for an economy heavily dependent on the export of hydrocarbons.
