GENEVA: The role of the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance in resolving the Ukraine conflict has yet to be discussed, US Secreta...
GENEVA: The role of the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance in resolving the Ukraine conflict has yet to be discussed, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a news conference in Geneva following a meeting with Ukrainian negotiators.
"This is a living, breathing document. Every day, with input, it changes," Rubio said, commenting on the peace plan proposed by the United States. "There are some that involved equities, or the role of the EU or of NATO or so forth. And those we kind of segregated out because we just met with the national security advisors for various European countries, and those are things we'll have to discuss with them," he explained.
The United States agreed to put "items that involve both Europe and NATO" as part of "a separate track," Rubio specified.
On Saturday, EU leaders expressed their disagreement with a range of provisions set out in Washington’s peace plan and called for amending it. According to Germany’s Bild newspaper, Germany is concerned over the US initiative and began working on diplomatic countermeasures.
Under the US-proposed plan, which was leaked to the Western media, the United States and other countries will have to recognize Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, Donbass and other territories that Ukraine will have to give up. In return, Kiev will be given American and European security guarantees. A demilitarized zone will be created, and Ukrainian troops will be withdrawn from areas therein.
The Axios news webiste quoted an American official as saying that the line of engagement in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions will be frozen, and Russia will have to return some areas to Ukraine. The size of the Ukrainian army will be significantly reduced and it will be deprived of long-range weapons. The deployment of foreign troops will be banned, and Russian will have to become an official state language. Bloomberg reported that the new US plan also provides for the lifting of sanctions against Russia.
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