2022 Istanbul peace negotiations

The failed 2022 Istanbul peace negotiations or Istanbul I peace talks between the Russian Federation and Ukraine were the result of US, UK and NATO interference. This one act condemned upwards of half a million Ukrainians to their deaths and the potential destruction of Ukraine as a viable state.^[1]

One month after the start of the Russian special military intervention in Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators had come very close to an agreement for a ceasefire and to an outline for a comprehensive peace solution to the conflict. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and his government had made great efforts to negotiate peace with Russia and bring the war to a quick end. Contrary to Western media narratives, Ukraine and Russia agreed at the time that the planned NATO expansion was the cause of the war. They therefore focused their peace negotiations on Ukraine’s neutrality and its renunciation of NATO membership. In return, Ukraine would have retained its territorial integrity except for Crimea.

These peace negotiations failed due to resistance from NATO and in particular from the USA and the UK. The reason is that such a peace agreement would have been tantamount to a defeat for NATO, an end to NATO’s eastward expansion and thus an end to the dream of a unipolar world dominated by the USA.

The failure of the peace negotiations in March 2022 led to dangerous escalation of the war that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, especially young people, deeply traumatized a young generation and inflicted the most severe mental and physical wounds on them. Ukraine has been exposed to enormous destruction, internal displacements, and mass impoverishment. This was accompanied by a large-scale depopulation of the country. NATO and the West as well as Russia bear a heavy share of the blame for this disaster.

By late 2023 Ukraine’s negotiating position was far worse than it was in March 2022. Ukraine will lose large parts of its former territory.

The blocking of the peace negotiations in early April 2022 harmed everyone: Russia and Europe – but above all the people of Ukraine, who paid with their blood the price for the ambitions of the major powers and would get nothing in return.

How the peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia failed.^[2]

In early March 2022, Volodymyr Zelensky contacted not only Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, but also former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and asked him to use his close personal ties to Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin to mediate between Ukraine and Russia in hope of finding ways to end the war quickly.^[3] In an interview published in the weekly edition of the Berliner Zeitung on October 21/22 2023, Schröder spoke publicly for the first time about his role in the efforts that led to the peace negotiations in Istanbul on March 29, 2022. Like Bennet, also he came to the conclusion that the reason why these peace negotiations were abandoned was because the Americans obstructed them. He said: “At the peace negotiations in March 2022 in Istanbul with Rustem Umerov (then security advisor to Zelensky, now Ukrainian defense minister), the Ukrainians did not agree to peace because they were not allowed to. They first had to ask the Americans about everything they discussed,” and continued: “But at the end (of the peace negotiations) nothing happened. My impression was that nothing could happen because everything else was decided in Washington. That was fatal.”^[4]

In an interview with the Berliner Zeitung former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder explained how the peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia failed:

Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who organized the Istanbul meeting at the time, had previously made similar comments. In an interview with CNN Turk on April 20, 2022, he said: “Some NATO states wanted the Ukraine conflict to continue in order to weaken Russia.”

Ukraine-Russia peace talks in Istanbul March, 2022.

Direct negotiations between a Ukrainian and a Russian delegation had already been underway since late February 2022, and in the third week of March, only a month after the outbreak of the war, they agreed on the broad outlines of a peace settlement. Under such an agreement, Ukraine would reduce the size of its active duty army of Ukraine down to 85,000 troops while retaining a huge reserve force consisting of at least half a million men, limiting the range of its missiles to 40 KM, and reducing the numbers of its tanks, combat aircraft, and artillery systems while cutting all ties with NATO, closing all NATO military and spy bases, not allowing foreign military bases on its territory, and expelling all NATO troops. Russia promised in return to recognize Ukraine’s territorial integrity and to withdraw all Russian forces. Special arrangements were made for the Donbas and Crimea.”^[6]

As Stephen Bryen explained,^[7] the essence of the Istanbul deal was to make Ukraine a neutral state without any NATO presence in the country. Compensation for Ukraine's neutralization was to be given in the form of security guarantees by Russia, by members of the UN Security Council, and by others including Israel, Turkey, Poland, Italy, Germany and Canada.

Reportedly the security provisions were far more precise than Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, and (depending on the final form of an agreement) would have allowed each guarantor state to take action in Kiev's defense independently without requiring the assent of others. For its part Ukraine would accept a much smaller army with far fewer weapons, and no long range weapons.

The most sensitive territorial issue was Crimea. The deal said that the two sides would negotiate Crimea's future after 10 to 15 years, leaving open whether Crimea would remain territorially Russian or revert in some manner to Ukraine.

Contextually the essence of the deal was that Vladimir Putin was willing to trade territory taken by Russian forces for neutralizing Ukraine and removing NATO's presence in that country.

The US was not willing to give security guarantees to Ukraine. Doing so would require a treaty and a two-thirds vote of the US Senate for its approval. But more importantly it would mean that NATO's expansion would be over and done with, and that Ukraine would get firmer security guarantees than any NATO country.

The fact of Western politicians' support for the negotiations is evident from the sequence of phone calls and meetings in the period from the beginning of March 2022 to at least mid-March. On March 4, Scholz and Putin spoke on the phone; on March 5, Naftali Bennett met Putin in Moscow; on March 6, Bennett and Scholz met in Berlin; on March 7, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany held a video conference to discuss the issue; on March 8, Macron and Scholz spoke on the phone; on March 10, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Ankara; on March 12, Scholz and Zelensky spoke on the phone, as well as Scholz and Macron, and on March 14, Scholz and Erdogan met in Ankara. (Cf. Petra Erler: Subject: Review March 2022: Who didn't want a quick end to the war in Ukraine, in:: "News from a Lighthouse Keeper", September 1, 2023)

Leaders of the Polish PiS government feared that Germany or France might try to persuade the Zelensky regime to accept the draft treaty and wanted to prevent that from happening. To that end, Polish president Andrzej Duda met with NATO leaders in Brussels on March 24, 2022.^[8] Michael von der Schulenburg, the former UN Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) in UN peacekeeping missions, writes that "NATO had already decided at a special summit on March 24, 2022, not to support these peace negotiations (between Ukraine and Russia)."^[9] Joe Biden had flown in especially for this special summit. Obviously, a peace such as that negotiated by the Russian and Ukrainian negotiating delegations was not in the interests of some NATO countries.^[10]

Oleksii Reznikov, Vladimir Medinsky,^[11] and Leonid Slutsky meet in Belarus.

"As recently as March 27, 2022, Zelensky had shown the courage to publicly defend the results of the Ukrainian-Russian peace negotiations in front of Russian journalists – even though NATO had already decided at a special summit on March 24, 2022 not to support these peace negotiations."

According to von der Schulenburg, the Russian-Ukrainian peace negotiations were a historically unique feature, which was only possible because Russians and Ukrainians know each other well and "speak the same language".^[12]

On March 28, as a sign of goodwill, President Putin declared his readiness to withdraw troops from the Kharkov region and the Kyiv area; this was evidently done even before this public declaration.

Ukraine’s former First Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Chaly who was on the country’s delegation at the talks said, "We spend two months - March and April - discussing with the Russian delegation a possible peaceful settlement deal between Ukraine and Russia. And we, as you remember, concluded the so-called Istanbul communique.^[13] And we were very close in mid to late April to ending the war with some kind of peace agreement. For some reason it was postponed....We managed to find a real compromise. Putin really wanted to reach a peaceful settlement with Ukraine."^[14]

Alexei Arestovich remarked,^[15] "I was a member of the Istanbul process, and it was the most profitable agreement we could have done....we even opened champagne bottles."^[16]

The terms of this peace deal have been verified by Ukraine war enthusiast, Fiona Hill, in her Foreign Affairs article, entitled “The World Putin Wants” published in August 2022.^[17] According to Hill, Russia agreed to withdraw its troops to its pre-war borders in exchange for Ukraine agreeing to remain neutral outside of NATO, terms which have since been confirmed by multiple sources.

Russia’s peace terms to end the war prove conclusively that Vladimir Putin did not invade Ukraine to acquire new territory, but rather to return Ukraine to its pre-February 2014 Maidan coup neutral status it enjoyed from 1991-2014 during which Ukraine was whole and free, as well as to defend the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics from a planned NATO/Ukraine military offensive.^[18] The very existence of this draft peace agreement proves that Western claims that Putin seeks nothing less but the destruction or annexation of most or all of Ukraine or else minimally the transformation of Ukraine into a Russian satellite state, and that Ukraine is therefore fighting a war for its very existence as an independent state, have no basis in reality.^[19]

Russian President Vladimir Putin shows African leaders initialed copies of the draft Ukraine-Russia peace treaty that was quashed by the United States and UK.^[20] Biden and BoJo bribed Zelensky with $100 billion not to take the deal.^[21]

To further the peace negotiations, Turkish President Recep Erdoğan offered to host a Ukrainian-Russian peace conference in Istanbul on 29 March, 2022. During the negotiations mediated by Turkish President Erdogan, the Ukrainian delegation presented a position paper, which led to the Istanbul Communiqué. Ukraine’s proposals were translated into a draft treaty by the Russian side.^[22][23][24]

Proposal 1: Ukraine declares itself a neutral state and promises to remain non-aligned and renounce the development of nuclear weapons in exchange for international legal guarantees. Possible guarantor states include Russia, the United Kingdom, China, the United States, France, Turkey, Germany, Canada, Italy, Poland and Israel, but other states would also be welcome to join the treaty.

Proposal 2: These international security guarantees for Ukraine would not extend to Crimea, Sevastopol or certain areas in the Donbas. The Contracting Parties would have to define the boundaries of these territories or agree that each Party understands these boundaries differently.

Proposal 3: Ukraine undertakes not to join any military coalition and not to receive foreign military bases or troop contingents. Any international military exercises would only be possible with the consent of the guarantor states. For their part, the guarantor states confirm their intention to promote Ukraine's membership in the European Union.

Proposal 4: Ukraine and the guarantor states agree that (in the event of aggression, armed attack against Ukraine or military operation against Ukraine) each of the guarantor states after urgent and immediate mutual consultations (which must take place within three days) on the exercise of the right to individual or collective self-defence (as recognised in Article 51 of the UN Charter) (in response to an official appeal by the Ukraine and on the basis of it) will provide assistance to Ukraine as a permanently neutral state under attack. This assistance will be facilitated by the immediate implementation of the necessary individual or joint measures, including the closure of Ukrainian airspace, the provision of the necessary weapons and the use of armed force with the aim of restoring and then maintaining Ukraine's security as a permanently neutral state.

Proposal 5: Any such armed attack (any military operation at all) and any action taken in response should be immediately reported to the UN Security Council. These measures will cease as soon as the UN Security Council has taken the necessary measures to restore and maintain international peace and security.

Proposal 6: In order to protect against possible provocations, the agreement will regulate the mechanism for fulfilling Ukraine's security guarantees on the basis of the results of consultations between Ukraine and the guarantor states.

Proposal 7: The treaty is provisionally valid from the date of its signature by Ukraine and all or most of the guarantor states.

The treaty enters into force after (1) Ukraine's permanently neutral status has been approved in a nationwide referendum, (2) the relevant amendments have been incorporated into the Ukrainian Constitution, and (3) ratification has taken place in the parliaments of Ukraine and the guarantor states.

Proposal 8: The desire of the parties to resolve the issues related to Crimea and Sevastopol will be introduced into bilateral negotiations between Ukraine and Russia for a period of 15 years. Ukraine and Russia also pledge not to resolve these issues by military means and to continue diplomatic efforts to resolve them.

Proposal 9: The parties continue their consultations (with the involvement of other guarantor states) to prepare the provisions of a treaty on security guarantees for Ukraine, the modalities of the ceasefire, the withdrawal of troops and other paramilitary formations, and the opening and ensuring of safely functioning humanitarian corridors on a continuous basis, as well as the exchange of bodies and the release of prisoners of war and interned civilians and to agree.

Proposal 10: The parties consider it possible to hold a meeting between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia in order to sign a treaty and/or take political decisions on other unresolved issues."^[25]

On April 1, 2022, Putin ordered all Russian troops unilaterally withdrawn from Kyiv and the rest of northern Ukraine as a gesture of good faith after Ukraine initialed the Istanbul Agreement in which Russia agreed to withdraw all its troops from Ukraine’s prewar controlled territory in advance of a signing ceremony that was due to take place on April 9, 2022.^[26]

See also: Bucha massacre

According to the New York Times, the March 17, 2024 draft agreement did not sit well with the Biden regime. At a meeting with their Ukrainian counterparts, the Biden regime called it “unilateral disarmament,” an unnamed senior Biden apparatchik told the news outlet.^[27]

On March 29, 2022, Scholz, Biden, Draghi, Macron and Johnson spoke again on the phone about the situation in Ukraine. By this time, the stance of important Western allies had apparently hardened. In contrast to the actions of Bennett and Erdogan, they formulated preconditions for negotiations: "The heads of state and government agreed to continue to actively support Ukraine. They again urged Russian President Putin to agree to a ceasefire, cease all hostilities, withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine and find a diplomatic solution. to make it possible."^[28]

The Washington Post reported on April 5 that NATO favors the continuation of the war over a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement: "For some in NATO, it is better for the Ukrainians to continue fighting and dying than for a peace that comes too soon or at too high a price for Kiev and the rest of Europe." Zelensky should "continue to fight until Russia is completely defeated."

On April 9, 2022, Boris Johnson arrived in Kyiv unannounced and told Zelensky that the West was not ready to end the war. According to the UK Guardian on April 28 2022, PM Johnson had "instructed" Ukrainian President Zelensky "not to make any concessions to Putin".

Zelesnky and BoJo. Boris Johnson sabotaged peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine in April 2022. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers died needlessly in the following months.

This was reported in detail by Ukrainska Pravda on May 5, 2022 in two articles:

"No sooner had the Ukrainian negotiators and Abramovich/Medinsky agreed on the broad outlines of the structure of a possible future agreement after the results of Istanbul than British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared in Kiev almost without warning.

Johnson brought two simple messages with him to Kyiv. The first is that Putin is a war criminal; you should put pressure on him, not negotiate with him. The second is that even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, the collective West is not: "We can sign [an agreement] with you [Ukraine], but not with him. He will rip everyone off anyway," one of Zelensky's close associates summed up the essence of Johnson's visit. There is much more to this visit and Johnson's words than just a reluctance to enter into agreements with Russia. Johnson took the view that the collective West, which as recently as February had suggested that Zelensky should surrender and flee, now feels that Putin is not really as powerful as they had previously imagined. In addition, there is a chance to "put pressure" on him. And the West wants to use it."^[29] David Arakhamia,^[30] a member of parliament appointed to the negotiating team relayed,^[31] "Boris Johnson came to Kyiv and said that we [the West] would not sign anything with them at all, and let's just fight.”^[32]

The Neue Züricher Zeitung (NZZ) reported on April 12, 2022 that the British government under Johnson is betting on a military victory for Ukraine. Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said: "We'd rather arm Ukrainians to the teeth than grant Putin a success." British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss stated in a keynote speech that Ukraine's "victory (...) is a strategic necessity for all of us" and therefore military support must be massively expanded. Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins warned: "Liz Truss risks fanning the flames of the war in Ukraine for her own ambitions". This is probably the first Tory election campaign "to be fought on Russia's borders". Johnson and Truss wanted Zelenskyi to "keep fighting until Russia is completely defeated. They need a triumph in their proxy war. Meanwhile, anyone who disagrees with them can be dismissed as a weakling, a coward, or a Putin supporter. The fact that this conflict is being exploited by Britain for a shabby imminent leadership contest is disgusting."

After his visit to Kyiv on April 25, 2022, Biden regime defense minister Lloyd Austin said that the Biden regime wanted to use the opportunity to permanently weaken Russia militarily and economically in the wake of the Ukraine war.^[33] According to the New York Times, the U.S. government is no longer engaged in a struggle over control of Ukraine, but in a fight against Moscow in the wake of a new Cold War.

At the meeting of defense ministers of NATO members and other states in Ramstein in Rhineland-Palatinate on April 26, 2022, convened by Austin, the Pentagon chief set Ukraine's military victory as a strategic goal.^[34]

Two years after Boris Johnson's visit to Zelensky to call a halt to negotiations almost half a million Ukrainian troops - twice as many troops as Ukraine had in the field in February 2022, left the battlefield either dead or wounded.^[35]

From Meduza:

From the Council on Foreign Relations's Foreign Affairs:

From The European Conservative:

From Ukrainska Pravda:

Zelensky the puppet.

The American magazine Responsible Statecraft wrote on September 2, 2022: "Did Boris Johnson help prevent a peace deal in Ukraine? According to a recent article in the journal Foreign Affairs, Kiev and Moscow may have reached a preliminary agreement to end the war as early as April [2022]. Russia and Ukraine may have agreed on a tentative agreement to end the war as early as April, according to a recent article in Foreign Affairs. "According to several former senior U.S. officials we spoke with, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators appeared to have tentatively agreed on the outlines of a negotiated interim solution in March 2022," write Fiona Hill and Angela Stent. "Russia would retreat to its position of February 23 [2022], when it controlled part of the Donbas region and all of Crimea, and in return, Ukraine would promise not to seek NATO membership and instead receive security guarantees from a number of countries. The decision to let the deal fail coincided with Johnson's visit to Kyiv in April, during which he urged Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to break off talks with Russia for two main reasons: you can't negotiate with Putin, and the West isn't ready to end the war.^[36]

In his announcement of the partial mobilization on September 21, 2022, President Putin stated:

"I would like to make this public for the first time today. After the start of the special military operation, especially after the talks in Istanbul, the Kiev representatives expressed themselves quite positively about our proposals. These proposals mainly concerned ensuring Russia's security and interests. But a peaceful solution obviously did not suit the West, which is why, after agreeing on some compromises, Kiev was actually ordered to nullify all these agreements."^[37]

On the occasion of the visit of an African peace delegation on June 17, 2023, Putin demonstratively showed the agreement accepted and initialed ad referendum in Istanbul to the cameras.

See also: 2023 Ukraine summer counteroffensive

• Minsk Accords
• Istanbul II peace negotiations

• Grabby Britain