Arestovych said he is ready to meet with Putin and hand over Crimea and four regions to Russia

Former adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine, Oleksii Arestovych, stated that if elected president of Ukraine, he would hand over four regions and Crimea to Russia in order to end the war — without legally recognizing them as Russian — and would also guarantee the rights of Russian speakers and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

He made this remark in an interview with Ksenia Sobchak on her program “Caution: Sobchak.”

Sobchak asked her guest to imagine himself as president of Ukraine and questioned what he would negotiate with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

“I would go to Moscow immediately, on the principle of ‘I’m coming straight at you.’ Not as an act of submission, but like Sasha Belyi: a showdown. I don’t qualify it as bowing down. I would arrive and say, first: we need to sum up our relations starting from 1991, across all problematic areas — from the division of the Black Sea Fleet, Tuzla, the gas wars, and so on. We must re-examine these issues at the level of cause and effect: what causes led to these consequences. Second: I am determined to change the direction of Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policy. Ukraine will never again pose a threat to the Russian Federation from its territory. I will try to ensure such conditions during my term and establish policy continuity. But under the condition that Russia will also not pose a threat to Ukraine… Three nations — Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians — must not kill one another,” Arestovych replied.

He then elaborated on his conflict-resolution plan.

“We will proceed according to Russia’s key demands from June 2024: Crimea, four regions, and guarantees for the rights of the Russian-speaking population and the Church… I would hand over four regions and Crimea — without recognizing them as Russian — in the same way that West and East Germany coexisted, for the sake of ending the war. It would be a lasting peace agreement, not a formal treaty,” Arestovych added.

According to him, technically this would look like troop withdrawals and freezing the situation along the line of contact. After that, he would recognize the symbolic unity of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian peoples. Arestovych also expressed readiness to hold a joint prayer service with Putin for those killed in the war and to lay flowers at the graves of Russian soldiers, expecting a reciprocal gesture in return.