It must be clear that any future attempt to regain Ukrainian territories will be viewed as an attack on Russian territory with all the ensuing consequences. When asked, Putin cited this as an important topic for the upcoming talks with the USA. The first draft of a US peace plan last week stated that the US could only recognize Russia’s de facto control over these areas – i.e. not legally binding.
The only concession the Kremlin chief said was that Russia could give written assurances that it would not attack any European countries. But it is untrue that Moscow plans to do this anyway.
The plan also contained US specifications as to what role the EU and NATO should play in the peace process. The USA has now agreed not to discuss EU or NATO issues in negotiations with Russia. said EU Council President António Costa to the “Handelsblatt”. In a new working paper, “all points that concern the European Union have been deleted. Everything that concerns NATO has also been deleted.”
Only the EU can negotiate sanctions, EU accessions and frozen assets, said Costa. Trump’s first plan envisaged that Russian state assets blocked in the EU would be used to rebuild Ukraine under US supervision. This would have deprived the European states of their greatest leverage over Moscow.
