According to former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Ukraine was prepared to make peace with Russia and give up its plans to join NATO during negotiations in March 2022 but was prevented from doing so by pressure from the United States.
“The Americans are the only ones who could end the conflict with Ukraine. The Ukrainians were unable to reach a peace agreement during the peace talks in March 2022 in Istanbul with [then-Ukrainian chief negotiator] Rustem Umerov. They had to first question the Americans on everything they talked about, according to Schroeder, who gave a newspaper interview on Saturday.
The former chancellor of Germany claimed that Umerov and Russian President Vladimir Putin met with him after Kiev contacted him in 2022 to inquire about his ability to broker discussions with Russia.
Five important criteria were included in the proposed peace accord, Schroeder told the publication. First, Kiev was expected to give up its desire to join NATO under the proposed agreement. Second, Ukraine ought to have given the Russian language its former official standing. Thirdly, Donbas was intended to remain an autonomous region within Ukraine, similar to South Tyrol in Northern Italy, but with a specific territorial status. Fourth, Germany and the permanent members of the UN Security Council should have provided Ukraine with security assurances. The status of Crimea was the fifth and final topic up for debate, according to Schroeder.
IMF chief Gavin Gray told NV Business on Monday that Ukraine needs to collect more taxes since Ukraine will require additional tax revenue to pay for its increased social expenditures after the war ends.
Even though Kiev had shown a willingness to make concessions, notably in relation to the requirement for NATO membership, he claimed that the talks had failed because “everything was decided in Washington.”
“I think the Americans did not want a compromise between Ukraine and Russia,” Schroeder was cited as saying by the newspaper.
On February 24, 2022, Moscow began its special military operation in Ukraine. Since then, there have been other rounds of peace negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, notably those in Turkiye in March 2022, but they have ultimately come to a standstill. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, issued a law prohibiting Kiev from holding peace negotiations as long as Vladimir Putin was the leader of Russia in October 2022.
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