(Dan Tri) – Duc newspaper reported that according to the draft agreement between Russia and Ukraine in March 2022, Moscow accepted to let a number of large countries ensure security for Ukraine according to the common defense rules in the NATO Charter.
Russian and Ukrainian delegations negotiate in Istanbul, Türkiye on March 29 (Photo: AFP).
German newspaper Welt on April 26, citing well-informed sources, said that in the spring of 2022, Russia and Ukraine were close to reaching a peace agreement, not long after Moscow launched a `special military campaign`.
In this 17-page draft of the agreement, the German newspaper said that Ukraine and Russia have reached a preliminary agreement on most issues, all remaining differences will be discussed at the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin
Accordingly, Ukraine will commit to `permanent neutrality`, agreeing not to allow foreign countries to deploy weapons and troops on its territory.
In return, Russia pledged not to attack Ukraine again.
Welt also stated that the treaty excluded the Crimean peninsula as well as Donbass from any security guarantees for Ukraine.
According to Welt, Russia wanted to determine the exact border at the Putin-Zelensky summit, but Kiev refused and insisted that this must be based on Ukraine’s interpretation.
At the same time, Moscow is said to have signaled that it is ready to withdraw troops from Ukrainian territory, but not from Crimea and Donbass.
The two sides are also said to have major disagreements over the size of the Ukrainian army, as Kiev wants to maintain more troops than Moscow requested.
Welt said the two sides were close to reaching an agreement, but Russia then demanded that Russian become the second official language in Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia have not yet commented on the above information.
Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have stalled since March 2022.
In an interview with domestic media on April 19, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov revealed for the first time details of some provisions in the peace draft that Russia and Ukraine almost reached at the round of negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey.
One of those provisions is that, if Ukraine complies with the Istanbul agreement (Türkiye), Russia will agree to let the West apply Article 5 on collective defense of the NATO Charter to Ukraine.
However, this provision will not apply to Donbass (Eastern Ukraine) and the Crimea peninsula.
