NYT discloses alleged 2022 Russia-Ukraine treaty draft
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The draft has been sourced from Ukrainian, Russian, and European outlets, as per The New York Times.
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Illustrative: Ukrainian soldiers prepare to take part in military training with French servicemen at a military training compound at an undisclosed location in Poland, on April 4, 2024. (AFP)
A draft of a treaty negotiated between Russia and Ukraine in spring 2022 was published by The New York Times on Saturday.
The newspaper claims that the document was sourced from Ukrainian, Russian, and European outlets.
Titled "Treaty on Permanent Neutrality and Security Guarantees for Ukraine", allegedly, the document lists the United Kingdom, China, Russia, the United States, and France as guarantors of Ukraine's security as a permanently neutral state. However, the document indicates disagreement with Ukraine regarding Belarus' status as a guarantor and with Russia regarding Turkey's status as a guarantor.
"Ukraine undertakes to support its permanent neutrality, which is declared and enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine. The guarantor states recognize, respect and guarantee the status of Ukraine as a permanently neutral state, and undertake to ensure that this status is observed at the international level," Article 1 of the draft reads.
Meanwhile, Kiev declined to negotiate clauses that would require designating the Russian language as Ukraine's official language and banning propaganda or organizations promoting "ideas or theories of superiority of one race or group of persons of a certain skin color or ethnic or national origin, including the ideas of fascism, Nazism, neo-Nazism, and aggressive nationalism."
Furthermore, the draft emphasized that Ukraine refused to discuss articles regarding the reciprocal lifting of sanctions imposed since 2014, as well as the cessation of proceedings on interstate legal disputes with Russia.
Simultaneously, the parties agreed to exclude discussions on Crimea, Sevastopol, and specific territories outlined in Annex 6 of the draft, the details of which were not disclosed.
Putin sets conditions for Ukraine peace talks
In a statement delivered on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia is prepared to initiate negotiations with Ukraine under specific conditions.
During a meeting with senior diplomats in Moscow, Putin announced Russia's latest concrete peace proposal for resolving the war in Ukraine. He emphasized that if Kiev and Western capitals reject this offer, as they have done in the past, they bear political and moral responsibility for the ongoing violence.
Putin outlined the conditions for the proposed peace plan, stating that Ukrainian forces must withdraw entirely from the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as from the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
He specified that the withdrawal should cover the entire territory of these regions within their original administrative borders before they became part of Ukraine. Once Kiev agrees to these terms and begins withdrawing troops while also formally renouncing NATO membership plans, Russia will immediately cease fire and commence negotiations.
Putin also emphasized that Russia is prepared to enter negotiations with Ukraine as soon as possible, acknowledging the complexities involved, "We are ready to sit at the negotiation table tomorrow, fully aware of the unique legal circumstances. Despite these, there are legitimate authorities, even according to their constitution, with whom we can negotiate."
Dive deeper
In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson that negotiations with Ukraine in 2022 were nearing completion. However, following the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kiev, the Ukrainian side purportedly rejected all agreements. Subsequently, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky legally barred negotiations with Russia.
In November 2023, Ukraine's previous lead negotiator with Russia, David Arakhamia, claimed that former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had dissuaded Kiev from signing an agreement with Moscow to resolve the conflict in spring 2022. Johnson has denied this allegation.
