“Prevent escalation” – Kissinger outlines peace plan for Ukraine

Henry Kissinger

The former US Secretary of State was criticized by the Ukrainian side for an initial peace plan that he presented last year.

(Photo: Reuters)

davos Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger outlined a peace plan for Ukraine in Davos. Europe and the US should continue to provide Ukraine with military support until the country’s status quo at the start of the war is restored.

In concrete terms, this means that the front is to be frozen along the line in Donbass where Ukrainian troops and Moscow-controlled rebels faced each other before the Russian attack on February 24 last year.

Kissinger called this a “reasonable outcome of hostilities” on the basis of which a ceasefire should be agreed. “I am convinced that this will prevent the war from escalating,” said Kissinger. In the next step, “political talks about resolving the conflict” would have to begin.

The result of these talks does not “necessarily” have to be a division of territory along the front, stressed Kissinger. This means that there is a possibility that Ukraine will also get back the annexed Crimea peninsula and the Donbass areas from Russia. In order to keep the pressure on the Kremlin, Europe and the US should not relax their economic blockade against Russia until a peace treaty has been negotiated.

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Kissinger is 99 years old. As Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to former US President Richard Nixon, he initiated rapprochement between the US and China. Even today he is considered a brilliant strategist.

West has already achieved goals

Kissinger had already made a first attempt to launch a peace plan last year. However, this was heavily criticized by the Ukrainian side. Now Kissinger sharpened his concept.

The western allies have already achieved their goals, he explained. The aggressor Vladimir Putin had to realize that he “cannot achieve his goals with conventional means”. Russia had to accept the expansion of NATO to include Sweden and Finland. But now it is important to prevent “the war from becoming a war against Russia itself”. Therefore, a dialogue with Moscow is necessary. In the future, Russia must be brought back into the international community.

Though both Russian and Ukrainian forces are exhausted after nearly a year of fighting, the warring factions are unlikely to sit down at the table any time soon. So far, Russia has only shown interest in capitulation negotiations with Kyiv. Military observers expect the Kremlin to prepare a new offensive. In turn, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made the recapture of all lost territories a condition for talks with Russia.

Kissinger tried to prevent Ukrainian criticism of his peace plan by acknowledging the country’s “heroic struggle” and calling for Ukraine’s NATO membership for the first time. “Before the war, I was against Ukraine’s membership in NATO,” Kissinger said. In the meantime, however, he was of the opinion that a “neutral Ukraine” no longer made sense.

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