Draft peace agreements between Russia and Ukraine 2022 published

The draft peace agreements, which were discussed between the Russian Federation and Ukraine in April 2022 in Istanbul, dated April 15, 2022, were published by The Wall Street Journal.

The document was discussed by the two countries after negotiations between delegations, which took place at the end of March and dated April 15, 2022, that is, after the visit of Boris Johnson, the former British Prime Minister, who is accused of disrupting the agreements. The draft included a commitment by Ukraine to abandon its aspirations to join NATO and maintain a neutral status, but a ban on Ukraine joining EU the document did not contain.

The document also stated on the reduction of the Ukrainian army up to a certain size, however, the parties had different visions on this issue:

1. Russia insisted on a number of 85 thousand military personnel, 342 tanks, 519 artillery pieces.
2. Ukraine agreed to 250 thousand military personnel, 800 tanks and 1,900 artillery pieces.

Provided for in the document and ban on the deployment of foreign military personnel and weapons in Ukraineincluding rocket.

The draft peace agreements included maintaining annexed Crimea under Russian control, without a formal renunciation of sovereignty over it by Ukraine. The future of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that were under Russian control until February 24, 2022, was to be determined during negotiations between the presidents of the two countries. The document did not talk about the status of other territories occupied by Russia – it was previously repeatedly stated that it provided for the withdrawal of Russian troops from there and the return of the territories to the control of Ukraine.

Russia put forward a number of demands with which Ukraine did not agree. It was about on expanding the official use of the Russian language in Ukraine, abandoning investigations into alleged war crimes in Ukraine, and lifting all sanctions. Kiev also did not agree that any of the countries guarantoring Ukraine’s security (which should have included Russia) would have the right of veto: Ukraine believed that this could free Russia’s hands for new aggression in the future.

WSJ assertsWhat negotiations continued until June 2022 and ended at the initiative of Ukraine. Moscow previously claimed that the negotiations ended in April.

Commenting on this publication, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow would not want the document to be made public and that now, if peace negotiations resume, Russia’s conditions will be different – since it has since announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions. Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the publication.

Both sides previously acknowledged that the terms of a possible peace agreement were discussed in Istanbul and some time after the Istanbul talks. Russian authorities accused Ukraine and its Western allies, especially Britain, of disrupting the agreements.

In November 2023, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, said in an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel “1+1” that Moscow’s main demand was the neutrality of Ukraine. According to him, the Ukrainian side refused the agreement for two reasons. Firstly, for this it was necessary to change the country’s constitution, since it enshrines Ukraine’s desire to join NATO. Secondly, distrust in the Russian side that it will fulfill the agreement: “this can only be done if there are security guarantees.”

Arakhamia added that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who arrived in Kyiv at the time, advised Ukraine not to sign anything and “just fight.” However, both he and Johnson himself rejected the Russian interpretation, saying that it was not about any instructions, and the decision to interrupt the negotiations was made by the Ukrainian authorities themselves.

Russian troops, after negotiations in Istanbul at the end of March, were withdrawn from Kyiv and northern Ukraine. The Russian side interpreted this as a gesture of goodwill. The attack on Kyiv had stalled by the time the troops were withdrawn.

Negotiations were effectively suspended until the summer of 2022. In November 2022, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky presented a ten-point plan – the “peace formula.” It stipulates, in particular, that any negotiations with Moscow can begin only after the return of all territories occupied by it, including the annexed Crimea, and the withdrawal of troops from all occupied regions. By presidential decree, negotiations in person with Vladimir Putin are prohibited in Ukraine.

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