/ An American newspaper revealed, on Friday, that it had reviewed a document issued several weeks after the Russian attack on Ukraine, which shows the Russian president’s conditions for Kiev to sign a peace treaty between Moscow and Kiev. It indicated that the most prominent thing included in the document was keeping Ukraine as a neutral country and not joining any military alliance, with Moscow specifying the number of Ukrainian forces, tanks and missiles.
The Wall Street Journal, which has seen the document, said Putin has publicly hinted in recent weeks that he would be open to discussions to end the war in Ukraine on Moscow’s terms.
According to the newspaper, the broad outlines of the agreement that the Russian president likely wants can be seen in the draft peace treaty that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators drafted in April 2022, about six weeks after the war began.
Western officials and analysts say those goals have largely remained unchanged after two years of fighting and include “turning Ukraine into a neutral state permanently vulnerable to Russian military aggression.”
The newspaper said that the 17-page document, which was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal and other people familiar with the negotiations, has not yet been officially published.
The document, dated April 15, 2022, explains how negotiators from both sides sought to end the fighting by agreeing to turn Ukraine into a “permanently neutral state that does not participate in military blocs,” according to the newspaper.
The document also included a clause preventing Kiev from rebuilding its army with Western support, as well as leaving Crimea under de facto Russian control.
Ultimately, the newspaper says, the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the terms of the document, and the war continues to this day, with Ukraine now insisting it will not begin any peace talks until Russia withdraws its forces from the country.
The newspaper points out that Ukrainian public opinion has become hostile to any peace agreement with Russia after two years of war, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly warned that any cessation of hostilities would simply allow Russia to rearm and better attack Ukraine in the future.
The document also shows the extent of the major concessions that Ukrainian negotiators were considering as Kiev struggled in the first weeks of the war.
The newspaper notes that the document is a reminder of the compromises that Russia may try to force Ukraine to accept if Western military support dries up and Russia makes significant territorial gains.
The draft treaty also allows Ukraine to seek EU membership, but will not be allowed to join military alliances such as NATO, and no foreign weapons will be allowed on Ukrainian territory.
The document also calls for reducing the size of the Ukrainian army to the maximum extent possible, as Russia has sought to reduce the number of military forces and tanks, as well as the range of missiles that Ukraine must possess.
The document also included a clause requiring that Crimea, which is already occupied by Russia, remain under Moscow’s influence and will not be considered neutral territory.
Moscow also pushed for the Russian language to operate on an equal footing with Ukrainian in government and courts, a provision Kiev has not signed up to, according to the draft document.
The future of eastern Ukraine, which Russia invaded and secretly occupied in 2014, was not included in the draft, leaving it up to Putin and Zelensky to work out in direct talks, if they take place.
The treaty was to include a description of the foreign powers included in the document, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France and Russia, with these countries being charged with the responsibility of defending Ukraine’s neutrality in the event of a violation of the treaty.
While the treaty remains in force, the guarantors will be required to “terminate international treaties and agreements, which are inconsistent with the permanent neutrality of Ukraine,” including any promises of bilateral military assistance.
International security guarantees will not apply to Crimea and the coastal region of Sevastopol, the document states.
The newspaper says that the first round of temporary peace talks between Kiev and Moscow began just days after the Russian invasion that began in February 2022.
During that period, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators initially met in Belarus before moving to Turkey and continuing talks intermittently until April.
The paper says the document is loosely based on the 1990 treaty that created a unified Germany, in which Soviet troops withdrew from East Germany on condition that the country give up nuclear weapons and limit the size of its military.
The draft treaty with Ukraine included a ban on the presence of all foreign weapons, “including missiles of any type, and armed forces and formations.”
Moscow wanted the Ukrainian armed forces to have 85,000 soldiers, 342 tanks and 519 artillery pieces.
In return, Ukrainian negotiators demanded that Kiev have 250,000 soldiers, 800 tanks and 1,900 artillery pieces, according to the document, while Russia wanted the range of Ukrainian missiles to be limited to 40 kilometers.
Other issues remained unresolved, most notably what would happen if Ukraine were attacked, as Russia wanted all guarantor states to agree on a response, meaning a unified response was unlikely if Russia itself was the aggressor.
In the event of an attack on Ukraine, Ukrainian negotiators wanted to close its airspace, which would require the guarantor states to impose a no-fly zone, and for weapons to be provided by the guarantor states, a clause to which Russia did not agree.
Russia also wanted to add Belarus as a guarantor, while Ukraine asked to add Türkiye.
The newspaper indicated that the negotiations continued, and were sometimes conducted via the Zoom application, but they stopped completely in June 2022.