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Remember, President Zelenskyy was at the Munich Security Conference just days before Russia invaded, Reznikov told POLITICO. I was a member of the delegation with him in Munich, and there was this atmosphere, this ambience [of] Guys, you have to give up. It wasnt said directly, but it was there, he said. Hardly inspiring confidence as the negotiations with Russia kicked off.

But above all, Reznikov and other Ukrainian officials involved in the talks Ukraines Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak and his adviser Mykhailo Podolyak among them also doubted the Kremlins sincerity and whether it was negotiating in good faith. This was a skepticism honed during the hundreds of hours theyd spent bargaining with Russian officials before the 2022 invasion. Were the concessions Russia offered even worth the paper they were written on?

They may sign documents, but whether they keep to agreements is another matter, Reznikov said. Remember the Budapest Memorandum, he added, referencing the 1994 agreement Russia had signed, fixing Ukraines borders and recognizing its sovereignty in return for giving up its nuclear arsenal. French President Mitterrand refused to add his signature to [this] document and warned our president [Leonid Kuchma], Young man, they will trick you.

Kuchma told me this story. After 30 years, the Russians did just that they tricked us, he said. The Kuchma anecdote was on Reznikovs mind during the 2022 negotiations. And, according to Ukrainian negotiators, it was in the spirit of Mitterrand that the U.K. and the U.S. cautioned Ukraine.

Negotiations? They dont want real negotiations, Yermak told POLITICO. The Russians want the capitulation of Ukraine.

We would be at the negotiating table again in [a] moment, if the aggressor was ready, really ready, to agree a just peace but not for their version of peace, he said. Like Reznikov, Yermaks worried that Ukraine would abide by the concessions it made, while Russia would squirm out of them and refuse to implement whats agreed.

Read more:
Ukraine is ready for a just peace not Russia's version of one - POLITICO Europe

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