What were the details of the peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul?

According to the international group Tasnim news agency, after the speech on Thursday Vladimir Putin addressed the Russian Federal Parliament again, the discussion on the Istanbul peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev has become a hot topic in the media.

For the first time, it was Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, who was in the palace In Strelna, during a meeting with representatives of seven African countries who came in June last year to present their peace plan for Ukraine, Konstantinovsky spoke about the agreement initialed in March 2022 between Moscow and Kiev.

At that meeting, Putin showed African leaders a document that contained 18 articles and appendices. This document included provisions on neutrality and security guarantees. Putin then clarified that these documents relate to both the armed forces and other matters, adding that everything in the document is specified, from military units to equipment and personnel.

The Leader In his interview last month with Tucker Carlson, an American journalist, Russia stated: Russia has never left the negotiating table regarding a peace agreement with Ukraine, but after the negotiations in Istanbul stopped, it will no longer take the first step.

According to him, the terms of settlement, including maintaining the status quo, need to be discussed.

In the same interview, Putin noted that “Ukraine, In a sense, it is an artificial state created at the will of Stalin”, including from the territories of Hungary, Poland and Romania.

The Russian president emphasized the importance of the goal of de-Nazification of the former Soviet republics. .

Putin, emphasizing that there was and is a possibility of agreement on this issue in Istanbul, added: “It is necessary to stop making national heroes of those who cooperated with Hitler in Ukraine.” /p>

But after Putin, it was David Arakhamia, the head of the faction of the People’s Service Party of Ukraine, who in November 2023, in an interview with TV channels, in response to the question why Kiev refused to negotiate with Moscow in 2022 refused, saying: After the return of the Ukrainian delegation from Istanbul, Boris Johnson, who was the British Prime Minister at that time, came to Kiev and said, “We will not sign any agreement with the Russians.” Johnson suggested the Ukrainians to just fight.

What were the provisions of the Istanbul Agreement?

But what are the provisions of the agreement that Putin mentions? ? The agreement that in the early months of the war caused the Russian army, which had reached a few kilometers from Kiev and had no significant obstacles to capture the capital of Ukraine, suddenly changed its strategy and sent its forces not only from near Kiev but also from the northern regions of Ukraine.

The agreement prohibited Ukraine from joining military alliances such as NATO, but allowed Kiev to move toward membership in European civilian structures such as the European Union.

Ukraine was supposed to become a “permanent neutral state” that was prohibited from strengthening its armed forces at the expense of Western countries, and the Crimean peninsula was supposed to be annexed to Russia as a “de facto” » recognition and this island to be under the control of the Russians.

At the same time, the fate of the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk was supposed to be resolved during the bilateral negotiations between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine. But in the draft of this document, there was no mention of the future of these areas.

Also, the guarantors of this agreement were clearly identified in this document. Britain, China, Russia, the United States and France were supposed to act as guarantors of the agreement.

At the same time, Moscow apparently insisted that Belarus and, in turn, Kiev Turkey has been added to this list. In case of violation of the provisions of the agreement, these countries should take “responsibility for ensuring the neutral status of Ukraine”. At the same time, they also had to cancel “all international treaties inconsistent with Ukraine’s permanent neutral status,” including promises of bilateral military aid.

Among other things In the draft document of Istanbul, it is directly mentioned, the issue of weapons in Ukraine. The document talks about banning Western weapons, including missile weapons of any kind, as well as the deployment of “foreign armed forces and organizations” on Ukrainian soil.

At the same time, The number of Ukrainian troops was supposed to be reduced to 85 thousand people, the number of tanks to 342 and artillery to 519 units. It was also decided in the draft agreement about the range of Ukrainian missiles.

According to the clauses in the document, the range of Ukrainian missiles should not be more than 40 km. But the Ukrainian side had put other proposals on the negotiation table in this regard, including: the number of armed forces consisting of 250 thousand military personnel, the number of tanks to 800 and artillery to 1900.

Also, Ukraine planned to close its airspace in the event of an attack on this country, and the countries guaranteeing the neutral status, according to the plan, would create a no-fly zone in case of a possible escalation of tension, although Russia did not agree to such proposals and The guarantor countries were invited to agree on retaliatory measures against the aggressor who violated the terms of the peace agreement.

By referring to the whole of the published document, it is clear that the Russians are thinking of expanding They were not a land towards Western Europe and they only sought to ensure their security by demilitarizing Ukraine and turning it into a permanent neutral country between themselves and the North Atlantic Treaty.

Author: Mehdi Saif Tabrizi, researcher of Russia and Caucasus area

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