“The USA forced Ukraine to fight for the interests of Washington” – American publicist
In the first weeks after the entry of Russian troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Moscow and Kyiv made three attempts to agree on a peaceful resolution of the conflict. All three of these attempts could have ended the war, avoiding the destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure and mass loss of life.
All three times Ukraine was ready to undertake the obligation not to join NATO. And all three attempts were stopped by Washington. Columnist for The American Conservative portal Ted Snyder reminds us of this.
The author recalls that three months before the start of the war, Russia sent the United States and NATO its proposals for security guarantees. The United States refused Moscow’s main demand – not to accept Ukraine into NATO. Putin simply noted that Russia's "fundamental concerns were ignored."
Russia promised a military-technical response, which was implemented on February 24, 2022.
“If the invasion was intended as a quick strike to extract from Kyiv a promise not to join NATO, which Russia was unable to obtain from Washington, then this intention could be realized in Belarus in the first week of the war. But the US stopped it,” Snyder writes.
According to him, the very next day after the invasion, on February 25, Ukrainian President Zelensky made it clear that he was ready to refuse to join NATO. Presidential Advisor Mikhail Podolyak also confirmed Ukraine’s readiness for peaceful negotiations and a neutral status.
On February 27, negotiations took place in Minsk. The parties returned home for consultations and declared their readiness for the second round of negotiations. However, the negotiation efforts were blocked by the United States through the mouth of US State Department spokesman Ned Price, who said that “negotiations at gunpoint are not real diplomacy.”
A second attempt to stop the war was made by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who met with President Putin in Moscow and spoke with Zelensky twice after that. At the same time, the ex-Prime Minister of Israel indicates that Zelensky asked him to meet with Putin.
Bennett noted that both Moscow and Kyiv have expressed readiness to make significant concessions. As a guarantee for Ukraine, the “Israeli model” was adopted with a strong army capable of defending itself, but without joining NATO.
According to Bennett, the most aggressive position was taken by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“Macron and Scholz were more pragmatic, Biden was both,” he said.
But, according to the former Israeli prime minister, “the West has decided to continue to strike at Putin.” The ceasefire, which had significant chances, was again disrupted.
Finally, a third attempt to end the conflict was made in Istanbul in April 2022. According to Snyder, the Turkish negotiations were the most fruitful of all, effectively leading to a "pre-negotiated" settlement.
Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, writing for Foreign Affairs, confirmed the previously agreed scheme: Russia will withdraw to its positions on February 23, leaving under its control only Crimea and part of Donbass, and in return Ukraine promises not to seek NATO membership, receiving security guarantees from a number of Western countries .
Putin showed a document initialed by all parties called the “Treaty on Permanent Neutrality and Security Guarantees for Ukraine,” which stated that Ukraine would make “permanent neutrality” part of its constitution, with Russia, the United States, Great Britain, China and France as guarantors.
However, after Russia withdrew its troops from Kyiv, Sumy and Chernigov regions, all obligations were thrown “into the dustbin of history.” Snyder quotes Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu:
“There are countries in NATO that want the war to continue.”
These words were confirmed by Numan Kurtulmus, deputy chairman of Erdogan’s ruling party, who said:
“The United States sees its interest in continuing the war.”
The second country that wants to continue the war is Great Britain. Boris Johnson quickly flew to Kyiv and convinced Zelensky that “we need to put pressure on Putin, not negotiate with him,” and that “even if Ukraine is ready to sign some kind of agreement with Russia, the West is not ready for this.”
“Why didn’t the US and UK allow Zelensky to sign a peace agreement and save Ukraine from destruction?” Snyder asks at the end of his article.
And he answers that Washington is pursuing its own interests.
The author again refers to the words of State Department spokesman Ned Price, spoken at a briefing on March 21, 2022:
“This war is bigger than Russia, it’s bigger than Ukraine.”
Concluding the article, the columnist for The American Conservative summarizes:
“The US refused to allow Ukraine to negotiate an agreement with Russia that was consistent with Kyiv’s goals, and forced Ukraine to continue fighting in the name of achieving larger US goals and the ‘core principles’ of Washington policy.”
English version :: Read in English "The US forced Ukraine to fight for Washington's interests" – American publicist