[BostonCard]

Per ISW (which may or may not be a neutral source), the Russian position basically hasn’t moved from the proposal they made in Istanbul in early 2022.  The main provisions of that proposal were:

• Ukraine would have to amend its constitution to remove a clause committing to the pursuit of NATO membership and add a commitment to permanent neutrality
  
• Russian was to become an official language
  
• Russian armed forces would be capped at 85,000 troops and restricted to 342 tanks, 519 pieces of artillery, and missiles with ranges under 40 km
  
• Banning of the provision of foreign weapons or armed forces
  
• Ukraine’s neutrality would be guaranteed by the US, UK, China, France, and Russia, but all would have to agree on a response to a violation (which essentially gave Russia a veto over any action)
  
• All bilateral security agreements with Ukraine would be cancelled
  

If that reporting is accurate, I can see why Ukraine is, shall we say, hesitant of any deal.

BC

[BostonCard]

Per ISW (which may or may not be a neutral source), the Russian position basically hasn’t moved from the proposal they made in Istanbul in early 2022.  The main provisions of that proposal were:

• Ukraine would have to amend its constitution to remove a clause committing to the pursuit of NATO membership and add a commitment to permanent neutrality
  
• Russian was to become an official language
  
• Russian armed forces would be capped at 85,000 troops and restricted to 342 tanks, 519 pieces of artillery, and missiles with ranges under 40 km
  
• Banning of the provision of foreign weapons or armed forces
  
• Ukraine’s neutrality would be guaranteed by the US, UK, China, France, and Russia, but all would have to agree on a response to a violation (which essentially gave Russia a veto over any action)
  
• All bilateral security agreements with Ukraine would be cancelled
  

If that reporting is accurate, I can see why Ukraine is, shall we say, hesitant of any deal.

BC