A senior Russian official has confirmed Russian President Vladimir Putin's insistence that negotiations with Ukraine must be based on the same uncompromising demands he made before the full-scale invasion and at the time of Russia's greatest territorial gains, even though Ukraine has since liberated a significant portion of its territory. This is stated in the daily analysis of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), writes News.bg.
The Speaker of the Federation Council of Russia, Valentina Matvienko, said on December 24 that Russia is open to compromise in negotiations with Ukraine, but that it will strictly adhere to the conditions it set during the negotiations in Istanbul in March 2022, when Russian troops were advancing on Kiev and throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Matvienko added that Russia will not deviate from these conditions "not even by an iota".
The partial agreement that emerged during the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul in March 2022 stated that Ukraine would be a permanently neutral state that could not join NATO, and imposed restrictions on the Ukrainian army similar to those imposed by the Treaty of Versailles on Germany after World War I, limiting Ukraine's armed forces to 85,000 troops.
Russia’s demands in Istanbul were mostly more detailed versions of demands Putin made months before launching a full-scale invasion in February 2022, including “demilitarization” and neutrality for Ukraine. Matvienko repeated Putin’s demand at his annual press conference on “Direct Line” television on December 19, and in the coming weeks, more senior Russian officials are likely to make similar demands to domestic and foreign audiences.
ISW continues to assess that the reference by senior Russian officials to the conditions Putin attempted to impose on Ukraine when he believed his full-scale invasion could succeed in a few days in 2022 reflects his projected confidence that he can completely defeat Ukraine militarily despite the massive setbacks Ukraine has inflicted on Russian forces since then. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said on December 24 that 440,000 recruits have signed military service contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) in 2024.