The ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskystated today that Russia must withdraw its troops from the country before any document on the non-accession of Ukraine to OTAN and the security guarantees that, in return, kyiv demands from several countries such as Turkey and the United Kingdom.
“We need an agreement with the president (Vladimir Putin. The guarantors will not sign anything if there are troops,” he said in an interview with independent Russian media, including the Meduza portal (located in Latvia) and journalists from the banned Dozhd television network, the Kommersant business daily and the author Mikhail Zygar.
The communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, had stated that these media should not publish the interview, and warned that “it will determine the degree of responsibility and take response measures,” according to Meduza.
Zelenski He argued that “it is impossible” that the leaders of the United Kingdom, Boris, Johnson; from the USA, Joe Biden; from Poland, Andrzej Duda; and from Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan sign any document as possible guarantors while a war is going on.
The president confirmed that he is willing to accept the neutral and non-nuclear status of the country, as required Russiain exchange for security guarantees.
“This is being worked on deeply, but I don’t want it to be another document like the Budapest Memorandum” of 1994, which granted Ukraine security guarantees in exchange for giving up the nuclear arsenal inherited from the former Soviet Union and that Zelenski He has said that it was a dead letter.
“We are interested in it being a serious agreement,” he emphasized.
Willing to sit down with Vladimir Putin
Zelensky explained that he is willing to sit down with Putin “anywhere in the world” to reach an agreement “with signatures, stamps and even blood” signed on the document.
“That would be enough to start the withdrawal process. Troops must be withdrawnthe guarantors will sign everything and end,” he stressed.
He indicated, however, that then the work will not be finished, because Ukraine should change its Constitution, since it enshrines the aspiration of the State to join the OTAN and this can take up to a year.
A referendum will be held first, because “only the citizens can decide on the status and the guarantors,” he said, something that can be organized in “a few months.”
Later, the changes in the Constitution will be undertaken, which might take “at least a year”, between the ratification in Parliament and that of the guarantor countries in their own legislatures.
Crimea, Donetsk y Lugansk
As for the Russian demand that Ukraine recognize the Crimean peninsula as part of Russia and the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk republics and Luhansk, Zelenski said it is an issue that “needs to be addressed and resolved.”
“I say it is a compromise. Let’s go back to before all this started (February 24) and we will try to solve the complex Donbas issue,” he said.
Zelenski also pointed out that other points that are on the negotiating table with Russia such as the protection of the Russian language in Ukraine are being discussed, but explained that he is willing to accept a compromise.
This might have the formula of mutual “respect for the languages of the citizens of neighboring countries,” he said.
“I want to sign it with all neighboring countries. I am interested in Russia, Hungary, Poland… Romania. We have many minorities, nationalities, and this agreement should be enough to respect certain languages in our country,” he noted.
The president also stated that the terms “denazification” and “demilitarization” are not on the table as he wanted. Russia because he refuses.
Zelensky also argued that only “Putin and his circle prolong the war and that what is happening “is worse” than a war and that his goal is to “minimize the number of victims and shorten the duration” of this conflict.
Furthermore, he suggested that he does not like the idea of Poland sending a peace contingent to Ukraine, stating that “we do not need a frozen conflict in the territory of our State”. (EFE)
