Report # 250. Moscow: basic terms for a peace deal with Kiev

May 28, 2023

1. Russia outlined conditions for a peace accord

The Ukraine conflict could be settled if Kiev were to re-commit to its neutral status, recognize “new territorial realities,” and declare Russian as a state language, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview released on May 28. He is convinced that a peace settlement will be possible only if the Ukrainian Armed Forces cease aggression against Russia, and Western weapons shipments to Kiev are stopped completely.

Galuzin added that to achieve a durable peace, Kiev must return to a non-aligned status and refuse to join NATO, recognize the “new territorial realities” that emerged after people in Ukraine exercised their right to self-determination in 2014 and 2022.

The diplomat was referring to Crimea and four former Ukrainian regions that overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in public referenda, respectively, in 2014 and 2022.

Deputy Foreign Minister noted that another crucial element of any peace settlement is Kiev’s commitment to respect the rights of the country’s Russian-speaking population and other ethnic minorities. “Russian should be designated as a state language at the legislative level. It is necessary to ensure that basic human rights, including freedom of faith, are observed in Ukraine,” he stressed.

On May 28, Mikhail Podoliak, an aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, dismissed Moscow’s conditions, issuing Kiev’s own list of demands. Those include the immediate withdrawal of all Russian troops from territory Kiev claims as its own, the  creation of a “buffer zone” on Russian territory, as well as voluntary renunciation of Russian assets seized in other countries in favor of Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that while Moscow does not want the Ukraine conflict to be frozen, there are no prerequisites for a peace settlement yet, pointing out that Kiev has prohibited any talks with the current Russian leadership.

2. Russia expects its sanctions to follow against Kiev

Ukraine’s "puppeteers" in London and Washington start begin to concern themselves with mental stability of top officials in Kiev and Russia hopes that sanctions against the Ukrainian leadership will follow over the threats against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview published on May 27.

“I have no doubts that the puppeteers in Washington and London begin to concern themselves with how mentally stable these people are," the Minister said. "I hope that sanctions will follow against these so-called officials. All statements that it is necessary to kill all Russians, wherever they are – that was said both by [Ukrainian Presidential Office Head Advisor Mikhail] Podolyak and [National Defense and Security Council Secretary Alexey] Danilov – and now personal [threats] against a leader of a sovereign state, the Russian Federation - is the most serious thing."

Lavrov also stated that Ukraine is a terrorist state, with its authorities "driving themselves into this quality."

Commenting on the threats against the Russian leadership, Lavrov underscored that a word has been uttered, and the West must bear responsibility for these words.".

3. Rogov: Kiev is plotting new provocation at ZNPP

Ukraine is plotting a provocation at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to put the blame on Russia and cut short the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission, Vladimir Rogov, leader of the We Are Together With Russia movement, told TASS on May 26. "Ukraine is announcing this strike in order to accuse us - and this is obvious, so that IAEA inspectors are not present [at the station] any longer," he said, commenting of allegation by the Ukrainian defense ministry’s main intelligence directorate that Russia was hatching a provocation at the nuclear facility.

He noted that tensions around the Zaporozhye NPP have been growing in recent time. "Moreover, the rotation of the IAEA experts [at the ZNPP] has been postponed again. Vasilyevka is under shelling all the time: they are using artillery, HIMARS [multiple rocket launchers], and so on. Plus, an attempted terror attack on a journalist from federal mass media in Enerhodar to demonstrate that the situation in the city is too bad to visit it," Rogov said.

Kiev is drawing attention to this topic, which means that it "is really plotting something," he said. "Bearing in mind that they have both Grom-2 and Storm Shadow, and other weapons they can use, if the announce that, it is highly likely that they already have a scenario, he added.

Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the director general of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power engineering company, told TASS earlier on Friday that Ukraine had once again derailed the rotation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) due to take place on May 26 following a postponement. In his words, no date has been appointed as of yet. The ninth team of IAEA experts was to arrive at the ZNPP on May 25. According to Karchaa, Kiev has once again demonstrated the lack of interest in ensuring nuclear security as the Ukrainian authorities are indulging in "shady games, which have no relations to nuclear energy."

Despite all massive Kiev’s military provocations and artillery shelling of the ZNPP, the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi since February 2022 has not made any critical remarks on continuous Ukrainian nuclear blackmail Involving NPP, prohibited by the international law.

 

 

Written by Vladimir P. Kozin

 

28.05.2023
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