How Henry Kissinger would end the war in Ukraine
The former US Secretary of State proposes freezing the war front along the lines in Donbass – and surprisingly advocates Ukraine joining NATO.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger during his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2013, at the age of 89. Today, at the age of 99, he can be connected virtually.
Foto: Laurent Gillieron (Keystone)
He doesn’t feel understood. And that although everyone hangs on Henry Kissinger’s every word when he speaks, slowly now, at the age of 99. But it’s not an acoustic problem that the former United States Secretary of State and major diplomatic commentator is addressing, it’s a substantive one. “Last year I explained how I would end the war,” says Kissinger. “But it has not been understood what I meant by that.”
So he tries again. “I believe that an end to the fighting is possible when the pre-war line is reached,” said Kissinger during a video link to Davos for the World Economic Forum. By this he means the course of the front along Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and the areas in Donetsk and Luhansk controlled by pro-Russian separatists. According to Kissinger, the front should be frozen along these lines in the Donbass. On that basis it would then be possible to agree on a ceasefire. Then one could begin to talk with Russia about “solving the conflict”, although the line in the Donbass does not automatically have to be the result of the subsequent peace negotiations. “I am convinced that this will prevent the war from escalating.”
“We must prevent the war from becoming a war against Russia itself.”
And he explains: The Western community of states has reached a point where many goals have already been achieved. Of course, the EU and the US would have to provide Ukraine with military support until the status quo before the start of the war was achieved with regard to the course of the front. However, it has already been demonstrated to Putin that we stand together and that Russia “cannot achieve its goals with conventional means”. The time has come when negotiations with Putin should begin. “We must prevent the war from becoming a war against Russia itself,” said Kissinger. Moscow must be given the prospect of becoming part of the international system again.
Kissinger had already outlined his idea for an end to the war in Ukraine at the last World Economic Forum in May 2022 – and went even further. Back then, shortly before his 99th birthday, he advised Ukraine to cede Crimea and the areas in Donetsk and Luhansk to Russia (Read more about it here). The reactions were violent: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky outright condemned Kissinger’s proposals, comparing them to the international community’s appeasement policy towards Adolf Hitler in 1938.
Henry A. Kissinger is connected via video at the World Economic Forum 2023 in Davos.
Photo: Gian Ehrenzeller (Keystone)
“Ukraine will fight until it has its entire territory back,” Zelensky said at the time. He said he would only be willing to hold talks with Moscow once all Russian troops had left Ukrainian territory. Little seems to have changed in this attitude. At least that’s what the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, said in almost the same wording on Tuesday morning in her opening speech at the World Economic Forum.
“We want to join NATO because we never want to have war in Finland again. We’ve been at war with Russia before.”
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin also commented on the issue in Davos on Tuesday. When asked whether negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are needed, she answered very clearly: “It’s up to Ukraine to decide. We’re only here to support them.” Marin believes that war would not have happened if Ukraine had been admitted to NATO earlier. That is also the reason why Finland and Sweden have applied for membership in the defense alliance. “We want to join NATO because we never want to have war in Finland again. We’ve been at war with Russia before.”
She is also in favor of Ukraine’s NATO membership: Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin at the WEF in Davos.
Photo: Markus Schreiber (Keystone)
At this point, Kissinger is back on board – and he goes even further. A neutral Ukraine “no longer makes sense,” he says. Rather, Ukraine’s admission to NATO is a “reasonable result”. The western defense alliance should give the country a guarantee of membership after peace talks. “Before this war, I was against Ukraine’s NATO membership because I feared that it would set in motion the very process we are now witnessing,” says Kissinger. He’s changed his mind.
And then Kissinger addresses Volodymyr Selenski directly. “I want to express my admiration for the President of Ukraine and the heroic behavior of the Ukrainian people,” he said. A small but not unimportant gesture which, together with his push for accession, could prevent the reaction of the Ukrainians from being as violent as last time, when the grand master of diplomacy gave the Ukrainians a well-meaning advice.
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