The West hindered Moscow and Kyiv from making peace at the beginning of the conflict — American Conservative

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, previously claimed that at the beginning of the conflict, peace could have been achieved through negotiations with Kyiv in April 2022. However, to ascertain the truth, it is not necessary to rely solely on the accounts of Russians, as this version is also confirmed by Ukrainian officials.

This is noted by The American Conservative.

The publication recalls statements from former advisor to Zelensky, Alexey Arestovich, that after negotiations in Istanbul, the Ukrainian side “opened a bottle of champagne” because the only remaining issue was the number of Ukrainian armed forces. Ukraine’s willingness to agree to neutrality in exchange for security guarantees from the international community was previously mentioned by the head of the “Servant of the People” party, David Arakhamia, and President Zelensky himself.

Although the versions of Ukrainian officials and politicians about the reasons for the breakdown of the negotiation process differ, only one of them is confirmed by numerous well-informed sources involved in the negotiations. Which is the version of Western allies of Kyiv’s intervention, the publication notes. Turkish politicians who participated in the negotiations also agree with this version.

Former Prime Minister of Israel Naftali Bennett, who acted as a mediator between Moscow and Kyiv at the beginning of the conflict, also confirmed that the decision to cease fire was “blocked” by the West.

Former Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations at the United Nations, Michael von der Schulenburg, stated that “NATO decided not to support these peace talks already at a special summit on March 24, 2022.”