Putin presents dictatorial peace shortly before Ukraine conference
Published: Friday, Jun 14th 2024, 18:30
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Shortly before a peace conference in Switzerland, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has made maximum demands for an end to his war of aggression in Ukraine. During an appearance at the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Friday, he demanded that Ukrainian troops withdraw completely from the areas of Kherson, Saprorishzhya, Donetsk and Luhansk claimed by Moscow. If Kiev then officially informed Moscow of its renunciation of NATO membership, he would be prepared to cease fire and negotiate. Ukraine rejected the demands as absurd.
The affiliation of the four aforementioned Ukrainian administrative regions to Russia is no longer in question, Putin said. He referred to an alleged referendum in Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk, which was never recognized internationally and only took place in part of the territories - but there under the strict control of Russian armed forces.
Putin also repeated the demands for a neutral, non-aligned and nuclear-free Ukraine that he had already made at the beginning of the war. Ukraine should also disarm. It must be "denazified" - by which Russia means a leadership in Kiev that it likes.
Even though the Russian president spoke of minimal demands, accepting them would mean further massive territorial losses for Ukraine. After all, Russia has never managed to conquer the city of Zaporizhia in its more than two years of war. In Donetsk, Ukrainian troops continue to hold larger areas around the conurbations of the major cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. In the fall of 2022, Russian troops were also forced to withdraw from the large city of Kherson behind the Dnipro River - around the same time Russia officially annexed the four territories.
Putin's speech was visibly aimed at the current G7 summit in Italy and the peace conference on Ukraine in Switzerland this weekend. The speech was not an ultimatum, but a genuine peace initiative, claimed Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Moscow's hope is obviously to dissuade countries of the global South from supporting Ukraine at the summit. At the same time, Peskov threatened to intensify the demands if the offer was rejected.
Ukraine rejected the list of demands as absurd. "Putin is not striving for peace, he wants to divide the world," commented the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Putin's statement was made with regard to the peace summit planned for the weekend in Switzerland. The Russian head of state once again wanted to present himself internationally as a peacemaker for the war he himself had triggered. "Russia is not planning peace, but the continuation of the war, the occupation of Ukraine, the annihilation of the Ukrainian people and further aggression in Europe," said the authority.
Austin speaks of dictate, Wagenknecht of serious offer
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also rejected the comments. Putin could not dictate terms for peace to Ukraine. "Putin has illegally occupied sovereign Ukrainian territory," said Austin after a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. "We don't want the leader of one country to wake up one day and decide to wipe out his neighbor's borders and annex their territory. That is not the world we all want to live in." Putin cannot dictate to Ukraine what it must do for peace. Putin could end this war today.
In parts of the German party landscape, however, the offer met with greater approval. Party founder Sahra Wagenknecht is calling for openness to the conditions Putin has set for a peace solution in Ukraine. "Ukraine and the West should avoid the historic mistake of brusquely rejecting the signals from Moscow as unrealistic maximum demands," said the leader of the alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW). "Instead, Putin's initiative should be taken up with the necessary seriousness and understood as a starting point for negotiations."
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