The Ukrainian negotiators said they had proposed a regime under which their country would not join alliances or host foreign military bases, but would have guaranteed its security on terms similar to Article 5, NATO’s collective defense clause. . Israel and NATO members have identified Canada, Poland and Turkey as countries that could help provide such guarantees. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The proposals would include a 15-year consultation period on the status of Russian-annexed Crimea and could only take effect if a full ceasefire was reached, Ukrainian negotiators told reporters in Istanbul. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said Russia had decided to limit fighting near Kyiv and Chernihiv to create the conditions for dialogue. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses Russian and Ukrainian negotiators before their face-to-face talks in Istanbul, Turkey, March 29, 2022. Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Presidential Press Office / Information via REUTERS read more Leading Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky has said he will consider the Ukrainian proposals and report them to President Vladimir Putin. The talks, held in Istanbul on Tuesday, were the first face-to-face meeting between the parties since March 10th. Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and failed to capture any major Ukrainian cities after encountering fierce resistance. Ukraine’s proposals were the most detailed and specific that Kyiv has made public. “If we manage to unify these basic provisions, and for us this is the most fundamental, then Ukraine will be able to really define its current status as a non-bloc and non-nuclear state in the form of permanent neutrality.” said Ukrainian negotiator Oleksander Chaly. “We will not host foreign military bases on our territory, nor will we deploy military corps on our territory and we will not conclude military-political alliances,” he said. Military exercises would be carried out with the consent of the guarantor countries. Ukrainian negotiators said there was enough material in their proposals to justify a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reportage by Gleb Garaninch in KYIV OUTSKIRTS, a Reuters journalist in MARIUPOL, Jonathan Spicer in ISTANBUL, Pavel Polityuk in LVIV and Reuters. Written by Costas Pitas, Stephen Coates, Peter Graff. Editing by Rosalba O’Brien, Michael Perry, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Andrew Heavens Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
