Following today's meeting in Istanbul, the Ukrainian and Russian sides will not sign anything.
This was stated by a member of the Ukrainian delegation David Arakhamia.
The Ukrainian delegation clarified its position in the negotiations:
- stipulate the positions of Ukraine and Russia on Crimea in a new agreement, conduct bilateral negotiations on the status of Crimea and Sevastopol for 15 years;
- during these 15 years, Ukraine and Russia will not use armed forces to resolve the Crimea issue;
- the issue of the Donbas republics is placed in a separate paragraph that will be discussed at the meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine.
"We have a law on a national referendum. For it, there must be peace. We asked the Russians whether they recognize the Vienna Convention. They said — yes. That is, the agreement under pressure is not recognized. Therefore, peace is needed for a referendum. No guarantor will sign an agreement under pressure. If all parties accept such a position, there will be a withdrawal of troops, the return of people, and then a referendum," Arakhamia specified.
Ukraine also requires providing international security guarantees. The agreement should stipulate that consultations in case of a conflict should last no longer than three days. The guarantor countries will be obliged to provide assistance. Ukraine sees the countries of the UN Security Council (France, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and the Russian Federation), as well as Turkey, Germany, Canada, Italy, Poland, and Israel among the guarantors. Other countries will also be able to join. All guarantors should facilitate Ukraine's accession to the EU.
"We have unresolved issues with ORDLO and Crimea, so the guarantors will not work in these territories. Some countries have already given preliminary approval. This is the system we want to build a new future for Ukraine on. Also, these guarantors should help to join the EU," Arakhamia said.
Valeryi Chaly, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, stressed that guarantees to Ukraine should be similar to Article 5 of the NATO Charter.
"If Ukraine becomes a target of aggression, after three days of consultations, the guarantors must provide Ukraine with weapons, military assistance and close its skies. If we manage to stipulate these key provisions (on guarantees), then Ukraine will be in a position to stipulate its current status of a non-bloc and non-nuclear power in the form of permanent neutrality," Chaly said.
Negotiations will be held during the next two weeks, after this period it is planned to invite the guarantor countries to the negotiations.
It has already become known that the Russian Defense Ministry decided to drastically reduce military activity in the Kyiv and Chernihiv directions.
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