After two days of “constructive” negotiations, the Kremlin bluntly announces what it wants from Ukraine: “It's no secret that this is our position”
Vladimir Putin with his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, PHOTO: Vyacheslav Oseldeko / AFP / Profimedia Images
Despite the encouraging signs from Abu Dhabi, the territorial issue remains unresolved, the main obstacle to a possible peace agreement in Ukraine, writes Reuters.
The Kremlin said on Monday that the issue of territory remains fundamental for Russia in reaching an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, the public Tass news agency reported after trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi over the weekend.
The clarification suggests that Moscow has not given up on the maximum conditions imposed for ending the war, despite some encouraging signs emerging from the negotiations.
Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia will occupy the entire Donbas region of eastern Ukraine – of which Moscow's forces currently control 90 percent – if Kiev does not cede it as part of a peace deal.
“It is no secret that this is our consistent position, the position of our president, that the territorial issue, which is part of the Anchorage formula, is of fundamental importance for the Russian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Reuters.
The “Anchorage formula” refers to what Russia claims Putin agreed with US President Donald Trump at the Alaska summit last August, according to a source close to the Kremlin.
This alleged agreement, according to the same source, calls for Ukraine to cede control of the entire Donbas to Russia and to freeze front lines in other parts of eastern and southern Ukraine as a necessary condition for any future peace deal.
However, Kiev has repeatedly stated that it will not cede to Russia the territory that Moscow failed to conquer on the battlefield.
Kremlin talks about 'constructive talks'
At the same time, state news agency RIA quoted Peskov as saying that Moscow positively assessed “constructive discussions” with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi.
The talks, mediated by the United States, ended without an agreement. New talks could take place next weekend, however.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said on Saturday that two days of trilateral meetings with Russia and the United States in Abu Dhabi ended with “constructive” discussions on “possible parameters for ending the war”.
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The Kiev leader added that the military representatives have identified the issues that will be discussed at a possible new meeting, which could take place as early as next week.
The Ukrainian press also wrote about more consistent progress on the military level, while admitting that no steps have been taken regarding the territories.
Ukraine insists that talks on the territories can only take place starting at least from the current front line, while the Russian side continues to demand the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops, including from unoccupied areas of the Donetsk region, noted the media from Kyiv.
The agreement on security guarantees from the US is 100% completed
On Sunday, Zelenskiy also said that a document of the United States on security guarantees for Ukraine is fully completed, and Kiev is waiting to set the date and place for the signing.
“For us, security guarantees are, first of all, security guarantees from the United States. The document is 100% completed, and now we are waiting for our partners to confirm the date and place where we will sign it,” Zelenski said at a press conference in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
Zelenskiy says the agreement on security guarantees from the US is 100% finalized: “We are waiting for them to confirm the date and place of signing”
“The document will then be sent to the US Congress and the Ukrainian parliament for ratification,” he said.
The president also referred to the issue of territories.
He said Moscow was trying to do everything it could to get Ukraine to give up regions in the east that Russia had been unable to capture since launching the full-scale invasion that led to the outbreak of the war. Kyiv, he stressed, has not changed its position that Ukraine's territorial integrity must be respected.
“There are two fundamentally different positions – that of Ukraine and that of Russia. The Americans are trying to find a compromise,” Zelensky said, adding that all sides must be ready for compromises, including the United States.
