Russia may agree to sign an agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine if Ukraine agrees to neutral status, said the head of the Ukrainian peace talks delegation, Davyd Arakhamiya, during the national telethon. It was reported by Ukrainska Pravda.
"They (Russians - LB.ua) didn't answer if they'd agree. But I have a feeling that they'd agree to the security guarantees, to the actual process. Why this feeling? Because we spent a lot of time speaking about these guarantees during the conference," he said. Davyd Arakhamiya also listed the steps to the possible agreement:
Total ceasefire
Big partners summit
Withdrawal of troops at least to the February 23 positions
Preliminary signature of the agreement
Temporary application of the agreement pending ratification by the signatory states
Ukrainian referendum
Changes to the Ukrainian Constitution to transition into neutral status.
During the peace talks in Istanbul, Ukraine proposed that the members of the UN Security Council: Great Britain, China, Russia, USA, France, Turkey, Germany, Canada, Italy, Poland, and Israel put in place security guarantees for Ukraine, similar to the NATO principles of collective security. For instance, within three days after an attack on Ukraine, the guarantor countries must provide military assistance, weapons and implement a no-fly zone.
According to Davyd Arakhamiya, the Ukrainian delegation achieved significant progress in the month of negotiations. Namely, Russia has seemingly given up its initial demands.
"I've kept the first version of the Russian demands. They called it an agreement, but I saw it as capitulation conditions," said Arakhamia. "I felt like walking out. There were stern ultimatums. But we had a task. Before we went to the first round of talks, I asked the President what would be a positive result. So, he gave us the task that a positive result would be if we felt that the Russian delegation would go back home and report to their President that one could talk to these people (Ukrainian delegation - LB.ua). We achieved our goal for the first round; then it became easier."
According to the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Russia now "must either honestly engage in talks, or refuse the negotiations and choose war" - and get the world's reaction to it.
The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, confirmed that the United States is ready to be a part of the security guarantees for Ukraine. He stated that he didn't see any positive movements in the negotiations but considered it a good sign if Kyiv saw them. Great Britain is ready to become one of the guarantors in case of the signature of the international agreement, said the permanent representative of Great Britain in the UN, Barbara Woodward.