Ukraine abandoned peace agreement, says Putin while flaunting documents | WATCH

Russian President Vladimir Putin showed a document proof for the first time with claims that Ukraine backtracked from a peace deal in March 2022. Putin said Ukraine's U-Turn was apparently due to the West's backing. He was speaking to a delegation of African leaders in St Petersburg.

What were African leaders expecting?

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, June 17, gave African leaders seeking to mediate in the ongoing war in Ukraine, a list of reasons why he believed many of their proposals were misguided. Putin was meeting leaders from Senegal, Egypt, Zambia, Uganda, the Republic of Congo, Comoros, and South Africa. They met President Zelenskyy in Kyiv before travelling to Russia.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa presented a 10-point peace proposal or the 'African Initiative' to the Russian president. African leaders were seeking agreement on a series of confidence-building measures, however, there had been no visible progress.

'Kyiv authorities threw it all away to the garbage dump of history'

Putin said that Russia had never refused talks with the Ukrainian side nor rejected negotiations. Notably, Russia and Ukraine held peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey in March 2022 which ultimately failed. The points of discussion and details of the negotiations, which were also attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were not made public. During the recent meeting with African leaders, Putin for the first time displayed the draft agreement, which he claimed Ukraine wanted to keep confidential.

The draft treaty was signed by the head of the Ukrainian delegation in the Istanbul talks. Called the 'Treaty of Permanent Neutrality and Security Guarantees of Ukraine,' it had 18 articles and further addendums related to the armed forces and military deployment, Putin said. As per the Treaty, Russia had promised to withdraw from Kyiv. However, when Russia withdrew from Kyiv, Kyiv officials refused to stick to the treaty. The Kyiv authorities, in the same way, owners usually do, threw it all away to the garbage dump of history, said the Russian president.

Putin made similar claims during his talk at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which was attended by UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. UAE is the special guest country in SPIEF 2023.

Has the West blocked peace in Ukraine? 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in the Raisina Dialogue 2023 in New Delhi that President Zelenskyy had signed a decree making it illegal for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia till Putin is in power. Russia has been claiming that the West, led by US and NATO, does not want serious peace negotiations in Ukraine.

Interestingly, former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett visited Moscow in March 2022 to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. According to Bennett, Putin also agreed not to demand the disarming of Ukraine and that same weekend, Zelenskyy dropped his push for Ukraine to join NATO. However, the ceasefire negotiations were blocked by the West as UK PM Boris Johnson suddenly appeared in Kyiv with announcements of additional military aid for Ukraine. This is believed to have scuttled the ongoing peace negotiations. Ukrainian delegation did not appear again for negotiations post the Johnson visit.Putin shows documents to claim Ukraine reneged on peace promise