On June 2, in Istanbul, Russia revealed the fine print of its terms for a ceasefire and political settlement with Ukraine. The stunningly successful Ukrainian Operation Spiderweb, hitting strategic airbases deep inside Russia with Ukrainian drones on June 1, overshadowed the Istanbul diplomatic meeting.
Kyiv’s front-and-center diplomatic goal is an unconditional, comprehensive ceasefire agreement with Moscow for at least 30 days. The Kremlin is setting unacceptable military and political preconditions for formally consenting to such a ceasefire.
Moscow aims to precipitate presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine within the context of ceasefire negotiations. Moscow hopes to throw Ukraine into chaos if elections are held during an official ceasefire, even as hostilities continue in the field and the air.
Russia has presented Ukraine with military and political preconditions for a ceasefire agreement and an eventual settlement of what Russia describes as “the Ukraine crisis,” as Moscow avoids the terms war and peace. Russian negotiators handed over both sets of preconditions to Ukrainian counterparts on June 2 in Istanbul, following up on the May 16 bilateral meeting also held there.
Moscow insisted on the Istanbul venue to signify a relaunch of the “Istanbul process,” from which Kyiv had left in May 2022 to avoid Russian-imposed terms of settlement. The new iteration of the Istanbul process, however, features even more draconian terms for Ukraine, spelled out in greater detail and a rigorous sequence of implementation steps.
No comments:
Post a Comment