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Zelensky says Russia deal would face referendum — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union
Mar, 2022 19:20
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Zelensky says Russia deal would face referendum
Any historic agreements reached during negotiations would have to be approved by all Ukrainians, President Zelensky says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky © Laurent Van der Stockt for Le Monde / Getty Images
While hinting at progress in talks with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that any “historic” compromises his negotiators may agree upon will be subject to approval by the entire country in a referendum.
Zelensky was answering a question about Russia’s demands for security guarantees for the two Donbass republics and for recognition of Crimea – the peninsula that Moscow reabsorbed in 2014, which Kiev and the West continue to consider Ukrainian territory.
“I explained to all the negotiating groups: when you talk about all these changes, and they might be historic, we will not go anywhere, we will come to a referendum,” Zelensky told the Ukrainian public broadcaster in an interview.
“The people will have their say and give their answers to some kind of compromises or another. As to what they will be, that is a matter of our conversations between Ukraine and Russia,” the president added.
Earlier in the day, Russia rejected Zelensky’s offer of a direct meeting with President Vladimir Putin, saying the talks had made
“no significant progress.”
“For us to speak of a meeting between the two presidents, homework has to be done. Talks have to be held and their results agreed upon,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Russia has also rejected calls for a ceasefire, saying such pauses had been used by Kiev to regroup and launch attacks on its troops.
Monday was the first occasion on which Zelensky had raised the idea of a referendum since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine almost a month ago. Back
in December, following a call with French President Emmanuel Macron, he said he would
“not rule out a referendum” of all Ukrainians regarding the disputed Donbass republics, Crimea,
“and maybe, in general, on halting the war” that has been ongoing in the east of the country since 2014.
Moscow attacked its neighbor in late February, following a seven-year standoff over Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the two republics. German- and French-brokered protocols had been designed to regularize the status of those regions within the Ukrainian state.
Russia has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
Russia responds to Zelensky’s Ukraine referendum proposal
Putting the peace terms up for a popular vote in Ukraine will harm the negotiations, Russia has said
Russia has said that a proposal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to put the terms of a possible peace deal up for a referendum will only hurt ongoing talks, aimed at ending the conflict between the two countries. Moscow launched a military attack on its neighbor late last month.
“We're convinced that putting [the terms] before the public at this moment can only undermine the negotiations that are already going a lot slower and are less substantial than we want them to be,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
Zelensky has suggested that peace terms of
“historical” importance may be the subject of a referendum.
“The people will have to respond to certain ... compromises,” he told reporters on Monday, adding that the details were still dependent on talks with Moscow.
The Ukrainian leader has previously proposed various plebiscites that have never come to fruition.
The Russian and Ukrainian delegations held several rounds of talks in Belarus, in person, before eventually switching to discussions via video link, in a bid to speed up the process.
Zelensky reiterated that Kiev was seeking security guarantees from Russia and the West. Moscow, meanwhile, said that it wanted Ukraine to officially become a neutral country, renouncing its bid to join NATO, a US-led military bloc that Russia views as a threat.
Moscow further said it wanted the
“demilitarization” and
“denazification” of Ukraine, as well as for Kiev to recognize Crimea as a part of Russia, and the republics in Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) as independent states.
Crimea, which was transferred to Kiev's control when both countries were part of the USSR, voted to leave Ukraine and join Russia shortly after the 2014 coup in Kiev, which overthrew an elected government. The Donbass republics broke away from Ukraine the same year, with tacit Russian support.
Moscow attacked Ukraine on February 24, following a seven-year standoff over Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk peace agreements and Russia’s eventual recognition of the DPR and LPR's independence. The internationally-brokered deals were meant make them autonomous regions within Ukraine.
Kiev says that the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
