[パリ １４日 ロイター] – It is close to the heart of the administration that President Putin proceeded with the military invasion despite Ukraine’s promise not to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began3. been clarified through the contact of a person.
The head of the Russian negotiating team, Dmitry Kozak, told Putin that the provisional agreement with Ukraine made the occupation of large Ukrainian territories unnecessary, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Putin initially supported Kozak’s negotiations, but when he was presented with an agreement, Putin argued that the concessions were insufficient and intended to change his goal and annex most of Ukraine’s territory. Consequently, the agreement drawn up by Mr. Kozak was not adopted.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Reuters report “has nothing to do with the facts. It didn’t happen. It is certainly false information.”
Podlyak, an advisor to the Ukrainian president, said Russia used the talks as a smokescreen to prepare for an invasion, but refused to answer questions about the content of the negotiations or to confirm whether a provisional agreement had been reached.
Two sources familiar with the matter said the move to formalize the deal began shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. Kozak believed that Ukraine had accepted the key terms required by Russia and encouraged Putin to sign it, people said.
According to a person familiar with the matter, Mr. Kozak was given a blank sheet after February 24, but when he returned it to his home country, it was all erased. “Putin has changed the plans,” he said.
A third person said that Kozak had offered Putin an interim deal, which Putin had rejected before the invasion of Ukraine.
It is unclear whether the war in Ukraine would have ended if Putin had listened to Kozak’s advice. Reuters could not independently confirm whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or other senior government officials were involved in the deal.
–
