Russia Demands Recognition of Annexed Lands in Ukraine Peace Talks

Russia is still seeking international recognition that parts of Ukraine annexed and occupied by its forces belong to Moscow as part of any peace deal, its foreign minister said in remarks published Wednesday.

Ukraine has said it will never accept Russian control over any of its territory and has vowed to recover land seized by Moscow.

Russia claims to have annexed five Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, as well as the Crimean peninsula, which it seized in 2014.

“For a durable peace, the new territorial realities that arose… must be recognised and formalised in accordance with international law,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in remarks published by Moscow on Wednesday.

Who gets control of land captured by Russia in its offensive is a key sticking point in stalled peace talks between the two sides.

Ukraine wants a ceasefire first before discussing territory, but Russia has refused to halt its offensive until a full deal is reached.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said in response that Russia was responding to peace efforts led by US President Donald Trump with “old ultimatums”.

“Russia has not changed its aggressive goals and shows no signs of readiness for meaningful negotiations,” he said, adding: “It’s time to hit the Russian war machine with severe new sanctions and sober Moscow up.”

Turkey, which has hosted three rounds of direct Russia-Ukraine talks, said last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin had offered to freeze the front lines in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions if Ukraine completely gave up the Donetsk region.

Russia already has almost total control over the Lugansk region and controls around 80 percent of Donetsk, AFP analysis of Institute for the Study of War (ISW) data shows.

It has also captured large swathes of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, though Ukraine still controls the regional capitals.

Ukraine’s industrial east has been decimated by more than a decade of fighting that erupted when armed Russian-backed separatists began a push to break away from Kyiv following the country’s pro-European revolution in 2014.

Source: Punch