In its negotiations with Russia, Ukraine does not discuss any denazification or demilitarization of Ukraine, which were originally put forward by Russia among the conditions for ending the war.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this in an interview for Russian mass media on March 27, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
“Denazification and demilitarization - we do not discuss this at all. I said that we would not sit down at the table at all if we talked about some kind of demilitarization, some kind of denazification. For me, these are absolutely incomprehensible things,” Zelenskyy said.
Regarding the protection of the Russian language, Zelenskyy said that he considers only an agreement on mirror respect for history, languages, cultural values possible, and not only with Russia, but with all neighboring countries.
At the same time, he expressed confidence that the Ukrainian people would support such an agreement, since this issue should be voted by the Verkhovna Rada.
As for the security guarantees, neutrality and non-nuclear status of Ukraine, Zelenskyy said that the Ukrainian side is ready to go for it.
Zelenskyy stressed that this is the very first point of principle for Russia, since, according to its leadership, it was precisely because of concern about this issue and the need to protect its security that Russia went to war with Ukraine.
He noted that this point in the negotiations is the most well-thought.
Ukraine is interested in this issue being fixed in an agreement signed by the countries - guarantors of Ukraine's security, ratified in the parliaments of these guarantor countries, and a referendum should be held on this issue in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy explained that the neutral status of Ukraine provides for changes to the Constitution, which fixes Ukraine's intention to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Since the amendments to the Constitution provide for the consideration of the bill in the Verkhovna Rada in several sessions, this will take at least a year.
Zelenskyy believes that a referendum on Ukraine's membership in NATO can be held much sooner than changing the Constitution since it can be held within a few months.
At the same time, Zelenskyy notes that in order to sign an agreement on the neutral status of Ukraine, Russian troops must be withdrawn from the territory of Ukraine, since the guarantors will not sign it otherwise.
He believes that the war can be quickly ended, and only Russian President Vladimir Putin and his entourage are dragging it out.
Zelenskyy believes that the beginning of the end of the war should be put in their personal meeting with Putin, which Zelenskyy is ready to hold in any country, with the exception of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, which are parties to the conflict.
According to Zelenskyy, they should agree on peace with Putin in a personal meeting, the agreement they signed will be enough to start the withdrawal of troops.
After the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine to their original positions on February 24, the guarantor countries will be able to sign an agreement on security guarantees, followed by their ratification in parliaments, a referendum in Ukraine within a few months, and then amendments to the Constitution.
When journalists remarked that in a referendum people could vote against Ukraine's refusal to join NATO, Zelenskyy said that a referendum is impossible when there are Russian troops in the country, otherwise it will be illegitimate and the international community will not recognize it.
Zelenskyy also said that the agreements between Ukraine and Russia should include the issues of Donbas and Crimea, they need to be discussed and resolved, but did not dwell on this in detail.
As Ukrainian News Agency reported, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine sets a military goal of withdrawing Russian troops to positions available as of February 24 with minimal losses of the Ukrainian army as soon as possible.
He believes that Russia's withdrawal of troops to their original positions as of February 24 is a compromise, after which negotiations on Donbas are possible.
The Ukrainian and Russian delegations will hold the next round of talks in Turkey on March 28-30.
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