Its publication also suggests that Western intelligence agencies are right in their belief that Putin is not interested in commitment. The memorandum encodes what Putin has been saying all the time: that the “root causes” of war are the expansion to the east of NATO and Nazism foster in Ukraine.
The memorandum is “aimed at getting rid of the fundamental causes of this conflict,” said Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, to journalists on Tuesday. “It would be a mistake to expect some immediate decisions and an advance here,” he said, adding that “we expect the reaction to the memorandum” of Ukraine.
Ukraine and their Western supporters say that Russian statements of Nazism are absurd, particularly when the country is governed by Zelenskyy, which is Jewish. NATO and its sponsors argue that the alliance has only grown because the former Soviet republics, such as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, have voted to join the hope of obtaining protection against Russia.
Not only is it unlikely that Ukraine accepts the absolutist terms of Russia, but that academics previously interviewed by NBC News believe that Russia knows that they will not. Many see peace conversations as a farce that both parties will fail, only prolonged to avoid the anger and impatience of President Donald Trump.
The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, always an aggressive voice, was shameless in how he sees these discussions in the luxurious palace of the çırağan era.
“The negotiations in Istanbul are not necessary for a peace commitment in unrealistic conditions invented by another person,” said Medvedev, now vice president of the Russian Security Council, in the application of Telegram messaging. Rather, he said, the objective was “rapid victory and complete destruction of the neo -Nazi government.” He said this goal was “the point of Russian memorandum, which was published yesterday.”
All the time, Russia, unlike Ukraine attacks against military objectives, continues to bombard Ukrainian civilians. On Tuesday, he “brutally attacked” the city of Sumy, said Zelenskyy, killing at least three people and hurting “many” more.
With both sides still diametrically opposite, Trump’s next movement could be fundamental.
After having promised to finish the war in 24 hours, he has frustrated so frustrated with the intractable reality that he has threatened to move away.
There are hopes of another exchange of American Russian prisoners and even a meeting between the two presidents. And when the memorandum inevitably meets Trump’s desktop, and is asked about it during one of his questions of questions and answers in the Oval office, the president could react in several different ways, according to Nixey, the expert in Russia in London.
“Or he will say: ‘Yes, but see what the Ukrainians have done to Russia, so this memorandum is not surprising,” said Nixey. “Or he will say: ‘Putin is not playing ball. This has not turned out as I thought I would. I am washing my hands on the whole matter.”
Keir Simmons reported from Dubai and Alexander Smith reported from London.
