As Russian forces pummel towns, villages and cities across Ukraine, pressure is growing on officials from both side to come to some sort of resolution, bringing an end to the destruction and bloodshed as soon as possible.
Previous attempts at talks appear to have made little progress, with the demands of both sides seemingly far apart, but there is room for compromise and signs that discussions are heading in the right direction.
In his nightly address on Monday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said talks that day had been “pretty good.” Meanwhile, Russia said discussions over the weekend had made “substantial progress.”
A fifth round of talks are set to take place on Tuesday with hopes that this impetus to reach a deal can continue.
Here is a brief guide to what each side wants:
What does Russia want?
One of the biggest questions posed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in earnest on Feb. 24., is what does President Vladimir Putin want — because it’s not been made entirely clear.
Many close observers of the country have said that Putin’s overarching aim is to restore Russia’s sphere of influence over former Soviet territories like Ukraine, and to stop their slide towards the West.
In the near-term, Putin is seen wanting to topple Ukraine’s pro-Western government and install a pro-Russian puppet leadership there in a bid to bring Ukraine back into Russia’s orbit.
For its part, Russia has been clear in stating what it wants from talks with Ukraine:
It wants legal guarantees that Ukraine will never be allowed to NATO, the Western military alliance, and has since said that it wants Ukraine to sign a neutrality agreement and to change its constitution to cement this.
Moscow has demanded that Ukraine recognize the independence of two separatist, pro-Russian republics in eastern Ukraine, the so-called Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. It has also demanded that Ukraine recognizes Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, as Russian territory. And it has called on Ukraine to cease all military activity.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that the war will stop “in a moment” if Ukraine agrees to these demands.
Russia has much to lose from the war with Ukraine, and has already been largely isolated on a geopolitical, financial and commercial stage, with businesses and brands pulling out of Russia in the wake of the war and the West’s imposition of wide-ranging and hard-hitting sanctions on Russia, leaving its economy in tatters.
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Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/15/russia-and-ukraine-talks-a-guide-to-the-demands-and-the-red-lines.html