The Deputy Head of the President’s Office, a member of the Ukrainian negotiations team, Mykhailo Podoliak, spoke in detail on the number of negotiation points, which the Russian Federation took into consideration following the meeting of delegations, said the press center of the President’s Office/
According to Mykhailo Podoliak, the agreement on the security guarantees allows “in practice and not in theory” to obtain an effective tool to protect Ukraine’s territory and sovereignty.
“The guarantor countries are, so to speak, the leading armies of the world, including those with the nuclear component, who take upon themselves specific legal obligations - to intervene in any conflict on Ukraine’s territory, to supply weapons immediately,” Podoliak mentioned.
He believes that the agreement on the security guarantees allows to begin reconsidering the old model of global security, “which was not effective in the current situation, and to move on to more effective models.”
“Ukraine looks like an initiator of the reform of the global security architecture. Additionally, Ukraine receives guarantees on a definite entry of the EU’s market as a full member. This is extremely important - both in terms of financing large-scale programs for modernization of the economy and eliminating the excessive bureaucratic procedures on accession to the EU,” the deputy head of the President’s Office said.
“I would like to say that the presence of USA, UK, Turkey, Germany, other countries alongside Russia as the signatories, imposes many additional limitations for the Russians and allows us not to follow the complicated bilateral format. Only in the multilateral agreement can we avoid the Russian irresponsibility with legal agreements,” the member of the Ukrainian delegation added.
He also commented on the proposal to resolve the Crimean issue. The article of the agreement, in which the Ukrainian side proposes to hold bilateral negotiations on the status of Crimea and Sevastopol for 15 years, he calls a revolutionary proposal.
“It means, at least, returning the subject of Crimea to the negotiating agenda. Before that, Russians were completely against it. Besides, it lets us keep the current legal interpretations of Crimea, as for us, of course, Crimea is a part of Ukraine. Refusal of mutual military escalation is a key to a joint end of the war,” Podoliak believes.
Earlier today, the sixth round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on the terms of ending the war took place in Istanbul.
According to the member of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, the sides worked on the concept format for the security agreement proposed by Kyiv.
The key demand is clear, legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine, which should be similar in content and form to NATO Article 5. If Ukraine is the object of any aggression/military attack/operation, it has the right to demand immediate consultations within three days. If the consultations do not lead to a diplomatic solution to the problem, the guarantor countries must provide military assistance, weapons and close the skies over Ukraine.
If Ukraine's legally binding security guarantees can be consolidated, Ukraine will be ready to consolidate its status as a nuclear-free and non-aligned state in the form of permanent neutrality.
It means that Ukraine will not deploy foreign military bases, foreign military personnel on its territory and will not enter into military-political alliances. Military exercises on the territory of Ukraine will take place with the consent of the guarantor countries.
Among the guarantor countries, Ukraine sees the United Nations Security Council countries, including the UK, China, USA, France, Turkey, Germany, Canada, Poland, Israel.
Russian side took the proposals into consideration and returned to Russia to study them and provide the answer.
No peace agreement was signed between the two countries.