Only Neutral Status Will Provide Real Security Guarantees For Ukraine, Moscow Says

Earlier this week, Ukraine’s presidential office published a draft document outlining proposed recommendations on security guarantees for the country. Among other things, the document emphasizes Ukraine's "aspiration to join NATO."

Ukraine will get real guarantees of security only after it returns to its neutral status, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said.

Moscow views Kiev's security guarantees project as an attempt to receive assurance that the West will continue to provide financial and military assistance to Ukraine.

Earlier, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Kiev's draft plan on security guarantees, saying that by publishing it, Ukraine has confirmed its intention to join NATO. Peskov emphasized that in view of this, "it's unlikely that anyone can provide Ukraine with a greater guarantee of security than the leadership of the country itself.” He also said that Kiev's aspiration to join the Western military bloc has only made Russia's special operation in Ukraine "more relevant."

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev criticized Kiev's project of security guarantees, saying that its implementation will become a "prelude to World War Three".

According to Semih Koray, Head of the International Relations Bureau of the Turkish left-wing party Vatan (Motherland), the conditions outlined by Kiev in its latest project meet the interests of the Atlantic and not those of Ukraine.

"Initially, NATO did not care what losses Ukraine would suffer during this crisis since the alliance's goal is to contain and weaken Russia. They are not concerned about the fact who is paying for it, and all these fake "tears" that NATO has been crying about Ukraine are nothing more than a disguise meant to distract public attention. The conditions put forward by Kiev on guarantees are just an attempt to join NATO "from the back door", Koray said.

On September 13, the Ukrainian president's office published a draft proposal on security guarantees for Ukraine titled the “Kiev Security Compact. International Security Guarantees for Ukraine: Recommendations.” The document outlines a series of provisions for ensuring Kiev's security after the current crisis is over. Unlike the security guarantee provisions proposed during negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials in February and March, the newly released document does not present Ukraine as a neutral state, but emphasizes its "aspiration to join NATO and benefit from its mutual defense arrangements."

Before the escalation of tensions between Kiev’s forces and the militias of the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in early 2022 and Moscow's subsequent decision to launch a special military operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine, Russia had sent the US and NATO comprehensive security proposals aimed at easing tensions between Moscow and the West. The demand for NATO to abandon its goal of accepting Ukraine into the bloc in the future was a key point of the proposals. However, it was immediately rejected by Washington and NATO, who told Moscow that no country could influence their "open door policy" on alliance membership for Eastern European countries.