Early Ukraine – Russia Negotiations by Naftali Bennett, stopped by Boris Johnson (Sources)
1) “The World Putin Wants”
Foreign Affairs – American establishment foreign policy organ
According to multiple former senior U.S. officials we spoke with, in April 2022, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators appeared to have tentatively agreed on the outlines of a negotiated interim settlement: Russia would withdraw to its position on February 23, when it controlled part of the Donbas region and all of Crimea, and in exchange, Ukraine would promise not to seek NATO membership and instead receive security guarantees from a number of countries.
2) Ukraine and Russia explore neutrality plan in peace talks
Financial Times: British financial publication
Fifteen-point draft deal would involve Kyiv renouncing Nato ambitions in return for security guarantees
Ukraine and Russia have made significant progress on a tentative peace plan including a ceasefire and Russian withdrawal if Kyiv declares neutrality and accepts limits on its armed forces, according to five people briefed on the talks. Ukrainian and Russian negotiators discussed the proposed deal in full for the first time on Monday, said two of the people. The 15-point draft considered that day would involve Kyiv renouncing its ambitions to join Nato and promising not to host foreign military bases or weaponry in exchange for protection from allies such as the US, UK and Turkey, the people said.
3) Zelenskiy suggests Israel as good place to hold talks with Russia
Reuters:
March 21 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Israel was undertaking many efforts to arrange top-level peace talks between his country and Russia and suggested they might take place in Jerusalem.
Zelenskiy, speaking in his daily video appeal to Ukrainians after addressing Israel’s parliament by video link, said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had been trying to act as an intermediary between Kyiv and Moscow.
4) “Diplomacy Watch: Did Boris Johnson help stop a peace deal in Ukraine?”
Responsible Statecraft – Policy Publication of Quincy Institute non-
partisan think tank, advocating “realism” and restraint, with multiple links
The news highlights the impact of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s efforts to stop negotiations, as journalist Branko Marcetic noted on Twitter. The decision to scuttle the deal coincided with Johnson’s April visit to Kyiv, during which he reportedly urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to break off talks with Russia for two key reasons: Putin cannot be negotiated with, and the West isn’t ready for the war to end.
5) Mediation by former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet
Naftali Bennet – YouTube Channel (primary source)
Interview in Hebrew with Israeli Channel: long description of the mediation process
(make sure to turn on English closed captioning).
6) The Grinding War in Ukraine Could Have Ended a Long Time Ago
Jakobin – Left Wing (summary with sources)
This past weekend saw the publication of a bombshell interview with former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, who over the course of a nearly five-hour interview dropped an unusual amount of detail about his efforts to mediate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine early in the war last year. The headline-grabbing news is Bennett’s claim that negotiations that were yielding fruit and that could have ended the now nearly year-long war after a little more than a month were ultimately blocked by the NATO governments underwriting Ukraine’s war effort.
According to Bennett, as early as the second Saturday of the war, or a little less than a week and a half into the war, both Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin made major concessions: Putin, by giving up on the goals of the “demilitarization” of Ukraine and its “denazification” — meaning, as Bennett interpreted it, regime change — and Zelensky by giving up on pursuing NATO membership.