Ukraine-Russia negotiations: agreements reached on 15 points

The Financial Times, citing sources in the negotiating group, reports that agreements have been reached in the negotiation process on the withdrawal of Russian troops, Ukraine’s refusal from NATO and the limitation of weapons in the country. Among the key points of the agreement:

1. Kyiv agrees to limit its own weapons.
2. Ukraine declares neutrality and renounces claims to join NATO.
3. Ukraine will not host foreign military bases and weapons, but in exchange for guaranteed protection from allies. Among the potential defenders are Britain, the USA, Turkey and others.

Speaking to the US Congress yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the creation new international structure – Union of Responsible Countries:

“The last war forced us to create institutions that would protect against war. But they did not work. We propose to create an Alliance of Responsible Countries, capable of immediately responding and doing everything to quickly achieve peace. Such an alliance will be able to help those who are also experiencing natural disasters, who fell victim to epidemics. Remember how difficult it was for the world to create vaccines to protect against a pandemic. If such an alliance existed, we could save thousands of lives in our country and countries where people are suffering.”

There is significant progress in the negotiations, reports edition CountryHowever, doubts arise about Vladimir Putin’s support for the agreements reached in the dialogue.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a member of the Ukrainian side of the negotiating team, says that in any case, the ceasefire agreement will include a clause on a ceasefire on the part of Russia, as well as the withdrawal of all its armed forces from the territories that were seized after February 24: “from the southern regions along the Azov and Black Seas and territories to the east and north of Kyiv”, in particular.

As the newspaper writes, it cannot be ruled out that the demonstration of readiness for an agreement on the part of Russia may turn out to be a fiction in order to buy time and regroup its troops for a further assault:

“Moscow can buy time to regroup its forces and resume the offensive.”

Meanwhile, according to the Financial Times newspaper, according to the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, Ukraine has proposed the creation of an Austrian or Swedish version of a demilitarized state, in which the country has its own army and navy, but does not enter into international alliances. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says:

“This is an option that is really being discussed now and which can be seen as a relative compromise. The situation around Ukraine can be improved by reaching agreements at the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the “operation” in Ukraine is going well and strictly according to plan. He also noted that Russian society should “purge itself of the fifth column” and compared the “harassment” of Russians abroad with Jewish pogroms in Nazi Germany.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented on the progress in negotiations with Ukraine, writes “Gazeta.ru”:

“The neutral status (of Ukraine) is now being seriously discussed in conjunction, of course, with security guarantees. This is exactly what President Putin was talking about in February at one of his press conferences: any possible options, any generally acceptable security guarantees for Ukraine and for all countries, including Russia, with the exception of NATO expansion. Now this is exactly what is being discussed at the talks, there are absolutely specific wordings that, in my opinion, are close to being agreed upon.”

In the meantime, while the peace talks continue, the doors are thrown open for another batch of fakes and disinformation. A video with the Ukrainian president calling for laying down arms and surrender is being heavily circulated on the Internet. It managed to gain 85 thousand views on Twitter. In fact, the sensational video is a deepfake, the result of a banal application of artificial intelligence, and in the real video, Vladimir Zelensky calls for the surrender of Russian soldiers, writes euronews.

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