Minister Cavusoglu is optimistic but the Ukrainian president: «The six points are the Russian requests. Without an agreement it will be the Third World War ». Thursday Biden in Brussels
from our correspondent
WASHINGTON – The negotiations continue as if by inertia. He says Volodymyr Zelensky
: «We have to keep trying, even if there is only 1% of the possibilities; if the negotiations with Putin fail, he will mean that the Third World War will have begun ». Also yesterday the president of Ukraine held court on various fronts, with a speech to Israeli parliamentarians, posting a video on social media and giving an interview to the Cnn. Zelensky oscillates between asking for more military aid and offering “direct contact” with Vladimir Putin. According to rumors of some British tabloids, the Russian president is ready to meet Zelensky in person. But for now there are no substantial confirmations.
International diplomacy is preparing for a week that could leave its mark. Thursday March 24 Joe Biden will be in Brussels
to participate in an extraordinary NATO summit, in a meeting of the G7 led by Germany and finally in the European Council. The United States and its European allies are preparing to recalibrate the strategy, keeping the war scenario and the political margins together. In this phase the most active or, in any case, the most able to give visibility to their initiatives, are the Turks. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu assures that “Russia and Ukraine are close to an agreement”. The negotiation would have made progress on the scheme that has been talked about for days. Six points: the neutrality of Ukraine, the smoky “denazification” of the country, disarmament and security guarantees, the protection of the Russian language, the status of the self-styled separatist republics of Donbass, the recognition of the annexation of Crimea.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in an interview with the newspaper Hurriet, assures that «Russia and Ukraine are close to an agreement on four crucial points». The “major” obstacles would be Donbass and Crimea, while on the rest the two sides would be ready to make concessions.
But this is not exactly the impression one gets from listening to Zelensky. Yesterday, for example, he harshly rejected the depiction of a Ukraine in the hands of the “neo-Nazis”. The Ukrainian leader told the Cnn the story of his Jewish family “always struggling with fascism”. Not only that: he overturned the accusation on the Russians: «Look at what they are doing in Mariupol, the siege, the bombing of civilians. Who are the Nazis then? ». Today, however, the Moscow and Kiev delegations are expected to resume talks. Again according to the Turkish government’s interpretation, “the major obstacles” would be two: the recognition of the independence of Donbass and the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation. In recent days, however, Zelensky has observed that the six-point formula is in reality simply the list of Putinian requests. At the same time, the Ukrainian leader adds: “We are ready to negotiate in any way, with any format”.
But “negotiating” means making concessions. Which? So far Zelensky has openly opened on Ukraine’s “non-adhesion” to NATO. More than Crimea or Donbass, this seems to be the real starting point. There has been much discussion of models: “Austrian neutrality”, that is, a perpetual commitment, sanctioned by the Constitution; or “Swedish style”, that is to say a theoretically reversible political choice. The Kiev government, however, insists on another aspect: the guarantors of the agreement must be ready to intervene with the armies, should Russia return to threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. And here the confusion is dense. At first Zelensky had indicated a committee of seven guardians: the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (United States, Russia, China, France and United Kingdom) plus Germany and Turkey. Now he seems to point to a triad: the United States, the United Kingdom and Turkey in the role of armed bodyguards. But in fact it would be like reproducing the defensive mechanism envisaged by NATO. Really difficult to imagine that Putin can accept.
March 20, 2022 (change March 20, 2022 | 23:28)
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