Friday, 08 November 2024, 09:33
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President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Ukraine should remain neutral for there to be a chance for peace, adding that Ukraine’s borders should be in line with the wishes of people living in territory claimed by Russia, Reuters reports.
“If there is no neutrality, it is hard to imagine the existence of good neighborly relations between Russia and Ukraine,” Putin said at the meeting of the Valdai Club, hosted by the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Putin indicated that Russia recognized Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders on the understanding that it would be neutral. However, NATO has repeatedly stated that Ukraine will one day join the US-led military alliance.
If Ukraine is not neutral, it will be “constantly used as a tool in the wrong hands and to the detriment of the interests of the Russian Federation,” Putin said.
Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory after more than two and a half years of war. On June 14, Putin presented his conditions for ending the conflict: Ukraine should abandon its ambitions to join NATO and withdraw all its troops from the entire territory of the regions claimed by Russia.
Kiev rejects these terms as tantamount to surrender, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has presented his own “victory plan”, for which he has sought additional Western support.
“We are determined to create the conditions for a long-term settlement so that Ukraine is an independent and sovereign state, and not a tool in the hands of third countries and not used in their interests,” Putin said.
Asked about Ukraine’s future borders, Putin said: “Ukraine’s borders should be in accordance with the sovereign decisions of the people living in certain territories that we call our historical territories.”
Ukraine says it will not accept a peace until every Russian soldier is expelled from its territory, although even American generals say such a goal would require massive resources that Ukraine does not currently have.
Source: ziare.com
