Vladimir Putin is ready to discuss a ceasefire with US President-elect Donald Trump, but he rules out any significant territorial concessions and Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
Reuters writes about this with reference to 5 current and former Russian officials.
According to them, Russia may agree to freeze the conflict along the front line, while considering negotiations on the exact division of four eastern regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. In addition, Russia is allegedly ready to withdraw its troops from “small areas” in Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions.
Reuters reminded that back in June, Putin voiced his conditions for an “immediate end to the war.” Ukraine must abandon its plans to join NATO and withdraw all its troops from the four regions that Russia considers its own.
According to the sources, Russia may also be ready to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv, but Ukraine’s accession to NATO or NATO’s presence on Ukrainian territory will not be allowed.
Other Kremlin demands may include a limit on the size of Ukraine’s armed forces and a commitment not to restrict the use of the Russian language. According to one source, Putin could present the ceasefire agreement as a victory in which Russia retains most of the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, which “protects the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine and preserves land links with Crimea.”
All the sources said that the issue of Crimea is not subject to discussion.
When asked what a possible ceasefire might look like, the two Russian officials referred to a draft agreement discussed in April 2022 after the Istanbul talks. According to this draft, Ukraine would have to agree to neutrality in exchange for international security guarantees from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States.
One Russian official added that there would be no deal unless Ukraine received security guarantees, emphasizing: “the question is how to avoid a deal that could lead to a direct conflict between the West and Russia.”