Kathrine Frich
The final condition is the hardest pill to swallow.
Wars usually end around a quiet table. Negotiators trade maps and promises until both sides finally stop firing. But sometimes, one party walks into the room and asks for absolutely everything.
A heavy price
A senior voice in the Kremlin has just laid out exactly what it will take to stop the grinding conflict in Eastern Europe. The price of peace, according to Moscow, remains incredibly high.
Dmitry Medvedev gave a sweeping interview to Iranian state television on Friday. The deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council brought a familiar list of demands to the diplomatic table.
He framed these strict rules as the only viable path to a lasting political settlement. And Russian state news agency TASS quickly broadcast his remarks which was cited by Ziare.
Three strict rules
First on the list is a total rewrite of Kiev’s military future.
By demanding complete neutrality, Moscow expects its neighbor to drop any dreams of joining Western alliances. Medvedev insisted the country must remain permanently free of nuclear weapons.
He told the Iranian network, “First of all, it is about a neutral, non-nuclear and independent status of the Ukrainian state.”
Then comes a cultural demand. Medvedev insists Ukrainian leaders must drop their current political path. He called for “the renunciation of the nationalist course of the current regime in Ukraine and the condemnation of the practice of banning the Russian language and, in general, everything Russian.”
Redrawing the map
The final condition is the hardest pill to swallow.
Russia wants official ownership of the Ukrainian land it currently occupies. Medvedev demanded the permanent transfer of these regions straight into Russian jurisdiction.
He declared, “Thirdly, it is about the transfer of territories provided for in the Russian Constitution under Russian jurisdiction. More precisely, the territories of Donbas and other annexed regions. In other words, the restoration of Russian sovereignty.”
The United Nations has repeatedly condemned these aggressive land grabs. No major international body recognizes Moscow’s claim to these areas.
A blunt threat
None of this is a surprise.
President Vladimir Putin has floated these exact same terms before. Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, consistently reject any peace deal that hands over their sovereign land.
They view these terms as a disguised demand for total surrender. Yet Medvedev left zero room for compromise. If diplomacy fails, he promised that Russian troops will simply keep pushing forward.
He warned his audience, “If this does not happen, we will achieve these goals militarily.”
