According to the newspaper, Berlin thus tried to prevent a conflict between Russia and Ukraine in mid-February. However, President Zelensky did not agree to abandon plans to introduce Ukraine into NATO, the WSJ notes
Olaf Scholz
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in mid-February made an attempt to avoid escalation between Russia and Ukraine and tried to convince President Vladimir Zelensky to refuse to join NATO, writes The Wall Street Journal.
According to the newspaper, this happened on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on February 19. Scholz suggested Zelensky abandon his intentions to join NATO and declare his neutrality, this became part of a broader deal between Western countries and Russia. It was planned that the agreement would be signed by the Presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden. This also gave Ukraine security guarantees, the newspaper notes.
However, after meeting with Scholz, Zelensky refused the offer. This caused Berlin to worry—«the chances of peace were disappearing», the newspaper writes.
On March 8, Zelensky, in an interview with ABC News, said that he had cooled down on the issue of Ukraine’s accession to NATO. Kiev understands that the alliance is “not ready to accept Ukraine” because it is afraid of contradictions and confrontation with Russia, he added. “We will never beg for something on our knees, we will not be such a country, and I will not become such a president”,Zelensky promised.
Later, he stated the need to recognize that Ukraine “will not enter” NATO.
The Ukrainian and Russian delegations are negotiating to resolve the situation in Ukraine, several rounds have already been held. On March 29, the head of the Russian delegation, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky publicly read out Kiev’s proposals for an agreement with Russia. In them, Ukraine also admitted that it would refuse to join the militaryunions, from the deployment of foreign military bases, contingents, conducting military exercises on the territory of Ukraine without the consent of the guarantor states, including Russia. In exchange, Kiev demanded that Moscow not object to Ukraine’s desire to join the EU.
Medinsky called these proposals “a constructive step towards finding a compromise.”
On April 2, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamiya, said that the Russian side had agreed with all Kiev’s proposals, except for the issue of Crimea. However, Medinsky stressed that there is still a lot of work to be done on the draft agreement between the two countries. “With regard to the readiness of the draft agreement for the summit, unfortunately, I do not share Arahamia’s optimism,” he said.
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