A former Swiss diplomat, Jean-Daniel Ruch, has made a serious accusation: he claims that the US and the UK “immorally” stopped Ukraine and Russia from reaching a peace agreement in April 2022. At the time, Ruch was serving as Switzerland’s ambassador to Turkey, and he was in Istanbul when peace talks between Ukraine and Russia were happening.
During these talks, both sides were close to agreeing on a truce. Under this deal, Ukraine would have agreed to give up its hopes of joining NATO, stay neutral, and limit the size of its military. In return, Ukraine would have received international security guarantees. However, just as things seemed to be going well, Ukraine’s negotiators suddenly backed out of the talks. Russia later accused British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of advising Ukraine not to sign the deal and to keep fighting instead.
In November 2023, a Ukrainian official, David Arakhamia, who was part of the delegation at the time, confirmed that Johnson had indeed made such a suggestion. However, Johnson has denied the accusation, calling it a “steaming, stinking lie.”
Ruch, the Swiss diplomat, recently spoke about these events in an interview. He explained that, according to him, the West deliberately interfered with the peace process to ensure that the war continued and weakened Russia even more. He called this decision “deeply immoral,” warning that the chances of Ukraine getting as favorable an agreement in the future are slim.
The diplomat also accused Boris Johnson of acting on behalf of the US, suggesting that Johnson didn’t make these decisions on his own, but was doing what the Americans wanted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has since repeatedly said he is open to talks with Ukraine based on the draft peace agreement from April 2022. He also pointed out that the only reason the deal didn’t happen was that Ukraine was ordered not to sign it by Western powers. According to Putin, the West wanted to defeat Russia, not end the war.
This revelation suggests that peace was almost within reach, but outside forces stepped in and stopped it. If the talks had succeeded, it could have saved countless lives and changed the course of the war.
