The 2021 essay which shows Putin’s demands will never change

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Russian negotiators are still pushing the same terms for peace in Ukraine, and appear to be slowly winning over US mediators ...

As fresh negotiations over ending the war in Ukraine ramp up, Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed US envoys had suggested the nation may be granted NATO membership if it agreed to cede land to Russian invaders.

Ukraine has long sought to join NATO, viewing its Article 5 mutual defence provision as a strong safeguard against Russian aggression, but it is constitutionally prevented from giving up territory and Zelenskyy has repeatedly ruled out such a move.

At least, until Saturday when he said if Ukraine’s allies agreed it was the best course of action he would “ask our Ukrainian society what it thinks”.

It marked a remarkable change of tac from the Ukrainian President, who had consistently argued giving up the Donbas region, of which Ukraine still controls a significant portion, would effectively reward Vladimir Putin for launching the invasion.

Annexing the Donbas has been a Kremlin goal for over a decade and while securing the region in any deal to end the conflict would largely be viewed as a strategic victory for Russia, it is unlikely the US offer will please Putin.

In a 2021 essay which laid out his justification for the war, the Russian President was clear: Stopping NATO and re-writing continental security was every bit as important as seizing Ukraine.

Much of Putin’s nearly 5,000 word essay, titled: On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians, focuses on a contested and revisionist history of eastern Europe and Russia.

In it, he asserts Russians and Ukrainians are “one people” and blames Ukraine’s desire for sovereignty on anti-Russian conspiracies fostered by Western powers.

On the one hand he claims Russia was “robbed” of land following the collapse of the Soviet Union and establishment of the Ukrainian state, while on the other he argues: “I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia”.

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