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But, but Russia!
Former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is the latest figure to confirm that a Russia-Ukraine peace deal was nearly reached in the spring of 2022. He discussed the apparent near-success that could have brought the war in Ukraine to an early end in an interview with Berliner Zeitung on October 21.
"At the peace negotiations in Istanbul in March 2022 with [the now Defence Minister of Ukraine] Rustem Umerov, the Ukrainians did not agree on peace because they were not allowed to. For everything they discussed, they first had to ask the Americans,” Schroeder told the German newspaper.
The question of whether a peace deal was so very nearly sealed between Ukraine and Russia remains a hugely controversial topic. As bne IntelliNews reported at the time, a contemporary report by Ukrainska Pravda claimed a deal between the Kremlin and Bankova was put together in March and April.
“Wow! The Ex-leader of Germany corroborates statements by ex-Israeli PM [Naftali Bennett], Ukrainian officials close to [Ukraine's leader Volodomyr] Zelenskiy, ex-senior US officials and Russian leaders,” Ivan Katchanovski, a professor of political studies at the University of Ottawa, said in response to the interview with Schroeder.
Schroeder was involved in the talks and, according to his interview, most of the peace deal negotiations were conducted before the Bucha story broke. Moreover, he claims it was the White House that refused to accept a deal as it wanted to “keep Russia small”, by continuing to fight a resource-burning proxy war in Ukraine. Schroeder’s version of events suggests that Johnson was delivering a US message, not expressing his own view.
“[The Ukrainians] first had to ask the Americans about everything they discussed… My impression: Nothing could happen because everything else was decided in Washington. That was fatal. Because the result will now be that Russia will be tied more closely to China, which the West should not want,” Schroeder said.
Asked how the West could come to trust the Russians after the litany of broken promises in the lead-up to the war and since it started, Schroeder scoffed at the idea that Russia has ambitions to invade Europe.
“We have no threat. This fear of the Russians coming is absurd. How are they supposed to defeat Nato, let alone occupy Western Europe?” Schroeder replied.
“What do the Russians want? Status quo in Donbass and Crimea. Not more. I think it was a fatal mistake that Putin started the war. It is clear to me that Russia feels threatened. Look: Turkey is a Nato member. There are missiles that can reach Moscow directly. The USA wanted to bring Nato to Russia's western border, with Ukraine as a new member, for example. All of this felt like a threat to the Russians. There are also irrational points of view. I don't want to deny that. The Russians responded with a mix of both fear and forward defence. That's why no one in Poland, the Baltics, and certainly not in Germany - all Nato members, by the way - has to believe they are in danger. The Russians would not start a war with any Nato member,” Schroeder concluded. |
