Memorandum - Putin's attempt to fight under the guise of negotiations. Ukraine will not discuss its territory and the status of the country of NATO - experts • The Insider • RIMA — Russian Independent Media Archive
Memorandum - Putin's attempt to fight under the guise of negotiations. Ukraine will not discuss its territory and the status of the country of NATO - experts
Vladimir Putin said that Russia is ready to discuss with Ukraine "Memorandum of the Future Mirny Treaty." Vladimir Zelensky, commenting on Putin's idea, said that Ukraine would not withdraw troops from its territory, as Russia demands. Experts interviewed by The Insider believe that a memorandum is not the beginning of a peaceful process, but only an attempt by Moscow to drag out a war under the guise of preparing for negotiations.
As noted by the senior researcher at the Center for the Study of Russia and Eurasia of the Carnegie Foundation Tatyana Stanovaya , Putin’s proposal about the memorandum does not mean a real transition to peaceful negotiations and does not involve the discussion of key issues of war:
“A memorandum is a frame document that does not imply discuss the essence of the conflict. This is a conversation about upcoming negotiations. As Putin said, we are talking about the principles of settlement and the timing, but not about the essence of the conflict itself. This is only preparatory and frame work, so there can be no talk of any Minsk-3 . If, after the memorandum, they sit down at the negotiating table and begin to discuss “Istanbul-2”, then he can already potentially be a certain form of “Minsk-3”, but we are very far from it. ”
Military expert Mikhail Samus emphasizes that Ukraine considers the memorandum only as a possible step towards the cessation of fire, but not to discuss its territories or concessions that Russia insists:
“There is a basic position of Ukraine - we do not discuss our territories. This Zelensky also said yesterday again. And we do not discuss the status of [country] NATO. We and Russia and I do not solve any internal issues. Let Russia deal with its internal issues and does not climb to Ukraine. This is the first.
The second - in this memorandum, Ukraine is interested in the ceasefire. Everything else is the subjects of further conversations and consultations that can go on for years. In principle, Putin’s concept is this-to continue the war, try to be pushed by the Ukrainian front, and at the same time continue some endless consultations, memorandums, concepts, drafts and so on. Medinsky, Pechenegs - this is all about it.
The most important thing for Putin is to stretch for several months a summer campaign. This is a basic scenario-to wage war, but at the same time pretend that there is a preparation of some memorandums and negotiations. Ukraine has a different approach - we stop fire, and then we start any conversations and consultations at any level. At the same time, of course, Ukraine does not discuss any territories. If they are occupied by Russia as a result of military aggression, and this is a war crime, then this issue is discussed in a completely different format. Naturally, Ukraine will not carry out the legitimization of these crimes, because Ukraine needs to win for this.
Russia can put its ultimatums, but it puts them on since 2022. To put ultimatums, you need to win Ukraine, take Kyiv in three days, and this did not happen. Therefore, all these dreams with which Putin lies and wakes up is just dreams. Reality is completely different. The only thing we can talk about now is the ceasefire. ”
Like other experts, Ukrainian political scientist Vladimir Fesenko, in an interview with The Insider, suggested that the memorandum speaks of Putin is not a tool of the world, but a tactical move aimed at pulling the time and keeping contact with Trump:
“A memorandum is another tactical tool that Putin uses to show Trump that he is ready for some compromises. After Istanbul, it became obvious that the positions of Ukraine and Russia were incompatible. It is necessary to somehow get out of the impasse, and this was the meaning of the telephone conversation of Trump and Putin-to look for a compromise. I think Putin offered the topic of a memorandum as a conditional compromise option.
There is no memorandum and close. After the conversation, the Russian side stated that work on it has no deadlines and could last an indefinite time. This suggests that Russia will use this work as a way to waste time.
The Kremlin has two goals. The first is to preserve the negotiation perspective with Trump so that he continues the dialogue with Putin (and not only in Ukraine). The second is to continue the war, without interfering with Trump to try to finish it. This allows you to pull time. Unfortunately, Trump enters this trap.
The Americans made a serious mistake, agreeing to discuss not only the ceasefire, as in March, but also the end of the war. A memorandum is not an agreement, but a negotiating phantom, a trick for Trump. He creates the illusion of a compromise, although in reality Russia is simply trying to drag out us and the Americans into a trap.
For the United States, this is a signal that Russia supposedly wants negotiations, and for Ukraine it is a risk of imposing a ceasefire on the conditions that can be used against us. The content of the memorandum can become the subject of acute disputes that will drag on for months. ”
"Minsk-3"
-The conditional name of the hypothetical peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, which could be replaced by the no longer current Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015 (known as “Minsk-1” and “Minsk-2”). These documents were signed with the participation of the OSCE, Ukraine, Russia and representatives of the self -proclaimed “DPR” and “LPR” and provided for the ceasefire and the political settlement of the conflict in the Donbass.
After the start of a full -scale invasion of the Russian Federation to Ukraine in 2022, the Minsk agreements finally lost force. Since then, the Minsk-3 expression has been used by experts and politicians in an ironic or critical way-as a designation of possible new negotiations, which, according to many, can only become a formal pause before the continuation of the war. Ukraine officially states that it will not allow a new agreement on the type of Minsk if it is imposed in a territorial nature or related to the sovereignty of the country.
