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Russia-Ukraine war: Key takeaways from Kyiv's peace talks proposal
With this, Ukraine also offered to accept neutral status "if the security guarantees work." Ukraine won't join "any military-political alliance", said another Ukrainian negotiator at the talks, Oleksandr Chaly, according to an AFP report.
The peace talks between Russia and Ukraine made little progress on Tuesday as the Moscow delegation agreed on scaling back troops near the capital city of Kyiv and Chernihiv. During the talks, held in Turkey's Istanbul city, Ukraine also made a series of proposals, including abandoning its longstanding ambition to join NATO and adapting neutral status. According to the multiple reprts including Reuters, Kyiv’s written proposals for an agreement also implied that Russia has no objection to Ukraine’s aspiration to join the European Union, Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who is leading the Moscow delegation to the talks with Ukraine, said on Tuesday after a meeting in Istanbul.
Here are the key takeaways from the Ukraine proposal:
> In exchange for dropping NATO aspirations, Ukraine has asked for legally binding security guarantees from western countries, which it says will be equivalent to or better than NATO's collective security guarantee, according to reports by multiple news agencies. "We want an international mechanism of security guarantees where guarantor countries will act in a similar way to NATO's article number five -- and even more firmly," said David Arakhamia, a Ukrainian negotiator after Istanbul talks.
> With this, Ukraine also offered to accept neutral status "if the security guarantees work." Ukraine won't join "any military-political alliance", said another Ukrainian negotiator at the talks, Oleksandr Chaly, according to an AFP report.
> Ukraine also promised Russia that it "won't host on its territory any foreign military base", Chaly also said. Military exercises with guarantor states could be held in Ukraine.
> Arakhamia also said there would be a peace deal that would be secured by a referendum in Ukraine. However, it would only take place after all foreign troops leave Ukraine.
> In the proposal, Kyiv also insisted that the international accord on the country's security not block Ukraine's possible membership in the European Union. Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who is leading the Russian delegation to the talks, also said that Ukraine’s proposals imply Russia is not against the country’s accession to the EU, according to local media.
> Kyiv has also proposed to sidestep the question of Crimea, which Russia invaded and then annexed in 2014, and the breakaway territories in the eastern Donbas region.
(With agency inputs)
