Russian Demands for Peace in Ukraine are Realistic; the Alternative for Kiev is Capitulation
By Willem Post
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Russia is winning the war, and its negotiating conditions fully reflect that fact.
The Corporate Media is filled with ‘leaks’ regarding the Russian demands for peace in Ukraine.
The Kremlin has responded by saying, the negotiations are being held using the Russian language by both sides so nothing is lost in translation as during Istanbul I Peace Conference in April 2022, behind closed doors, and therefore Russia will not comment.
Russia made clear, on the Monday after the first session of the Istanbul II Peace Conference, it is sticking by the original demands raised by Russia during the Istanbul I Peace Conference in February 2022
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared:
Russia will never give up Crimea, and the annexed regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts. Russia's control and sovereignty over these territories is essentially non-negotiable.
The international recognition of Crimea, Sevastopol, the DPR, the LPR, the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions as part of Russia is an imperative.
All the commitments Kiev assumes must be legally binding, contain enforcement mechanisms and be permanent
Russia proceeds from the premise, Kiev’s non-accession to NATO, as well as reaffirming its neutral and non-aligned status, as per the 1990 Declaration on Ukraine’s State Sovereignty - these factors form one of the two pillars for a final settlement to the Ukraine crisis that would meet Russia’s security interests.
Russia also demanded, Ukraine enact legislation to restore and protect Russian language, culture, and churches and monasteries in Ukraine.
About one-third of the country has spoken Russian as its first language for hundreds of years, and many more know it as a second language.
Ukraine nationalists in Kiev have been waging a state persecution campaign against the largest Church in Ukraine, because it has not broken spiritual communion with the Moscow Patriarchate, at times seizing its monasteries and churches, and arresting its bishops and priests.
Russian media broadcasts and media have been banned.
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The second pillar consists of overcoming the legacy of the neo-Nazi regime that usurped power in Kiev after the US/EU/UK- instigated/financed/organized February 2014 Coup d'Etat, including the initiative by its perpetrators to eradicate and cancel, in both physical and legislative terms, everything Russian, be it the Russian language, media, culture, traditions, or the canonical Orthodox faith.
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Other agenda items are:
"Demilitarizing and de-Nazifying Ukraine is also on the agenda, along with
1) lifting sanctions, 2) withdrawing lawsuits and cancelling arrest warrants, 3) returning Russian assets subjected to the so-called freeze in the West."
Of course, there's also the ban on Ukraine ever becoming a member of NATO, which is a key compromise already being offered by the Trump administration.
Again, all of this is essentially identical to the demands articulated by Russia at the very beginning February 2022.
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It’s been reported, when the Istanbul talks were halted after less than 2 hours, the Russian delegation warned that ‘next time’ the number of Ukrainian regions returned to Russia’s ancestral lands can increase from 4 to 6 or 8.
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1) Ukraine must adopt a neutral status without the presence of foreign troops and no weapons of mass destruction on its territory.
2) Kiev must renounce its demands for reparations from Moscow.
3) Ukraine must come to terms with the loss of Crimea and four other regions.
4) Putin will agree to a ceasefire only after Ukraine withdraws its troops from these regions.
5) The Kremlin wants all five regions to be recognized as Russian at the international level.
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Thus, the peace proposal is:
1) No NATO membership
2) Neutral status
3) Restoration of rights of the Russian population
4) Restoration of the church
5) No possibility for the west to use Ukraine as a proxy again!
6) Taken territories in Ukraine become Russian”
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While this is a more informal formulation, it does include the respect for the Russian-speaking populations, a fundamental reason for the war, and a real-life problem in Ukraine that also affects the Hungarian, Polish and Rumanian minorities
The restoration of the banned Ukrainian Orthodox Church – for alleged Russian ties – is another real issue.
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Russian Troops on the Move; The Alternative for Ukraine may be Capitulation
The territorial concessions are an almost insurmountable problem, as Russia demands Kiev withdraw from small portions of the four regions Russia has not yet liberated.
Just to illustrate how dramatic that is, this would include, for example, Zaporozhian City – with 700+ thousand inhabitants.
The only reason for Ukraine to even entertain these conditions is that, if they do not, they risk a much worse settlement later on, or even total capitulation.
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Ukrainian, a War-Mongering Dependency of the West
Zelensky was told to reject Minsk 1 and 2 (a real good deal for Ukraine)
Zelensky was told to reject the already-initialed Istanbul 1 Agreement in April 2022 (also a real good deal for Ukraine)
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Ukraine and especially the West (for face-saving reasons), desperately need a ceasefire, because the Ukraine armed forces face total destruction in a few months.
At present, it is losing about 1400 killed and seriously wounded each day, and Russia is returning more and more Ukrainian regions to Russia’s ancestral lands.
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The West does not give a damn about the killing of the Slav Russians and Slav Ukrainians, otherwise it would have stopped Kiev’s 8-y genocide of ethnic Russians in East Ukraine from 2014 to 2022.
After a few more years of fighting, the US/EU/UK aims to:
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1) Sell more goods and services to the Ukraine market
2) Have low-cost access to Ukraine mineral resources; oil, gas, rare earths, etc.
3) Have low-cost access to Ukraine fertile lands; breadbasket of Europe,
4) Have low-cost strategic access to the oil and gas of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea
5) Turn Crimea into: a) a major NATO base, b) cruise ship destination, c) a retirement/tourist Mecca, a la Monaco.
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The US/EU/UK has been aiming to weaken Russia and take over its resources, as it almost succeeded from 1991 to 2000. Those resources, and the Northern Sea Passage, are at least 25 times more valuable than Ukraine’s.
As a consolation prize, the US/EU/UK is desperately trying to get as much “value” out of Ukraine as possible to recover its “investments”.