More than 20 days after Russia started its invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has listed his demands for reaching a peace deal with Ukraine, British public broadcaster BBC reports.
On Thursday, March 17, Putin had a telephone conversation with the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and unveiled what Russia’s precise demands were for a potential peace deal with Ukraine.
Erdoğan’s senior adviser and spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said to BBC that Moscow’s demands can be classified into two categories. Firstly, the aggressor state demands that Ukraine should be neutral and should not apply to join the NATO military alliance.
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Secondly, the Kremlin wants Ukraine to undergo a disarmament process to ensure it wasn’t a threat to Russia. Putin also demanded for the Russian language to be protected in Ukraine, where Russian is an official regional language. Finally, Putin has called for the de-Nazification of Ukraine, which has a directly-elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, BBC reports.
Zelenskyy has stated previously that Ukraine demands the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and restoration of its territorial integrity, which means returning Crime and other Russian-occupied territories to Ukraine.
Putin lists demands to end his war in Ukraine
