With Russia’s acceptance of a 30-day halt to its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, prospects of peace in the region have turned brighter indeed.
Knowledgeable sources say that US President Donald J Trump has played a commendable part in pushing forward this peace process between Russia and Ukraine. His key officials worked very hard with their Russian and Ukrainian counterparts in Riyadh and Jeddah. Now, in his recent telephonic conversation with his US counterpart Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to halt attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days. This is likely to lead to a Complete Ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine and, ultimately, to peace in the region.
In the final peace deal, to be reached between Moscow, Kyiv and Washington, Ukrainian President Zelensky may drop his demand for the membership of the NATO—one of the main causes of its current conflict with Russia. Russian President Putin may not insist on keeping control of the Ukrainian territory Moscow has seized during the current war.
In course of its negotiations with Moscow and Kyiv, Washington has sent a clear message to both that the United States is not being partisan in the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Its basic goal is just the attainment of peace in the region. Like his predecessors John F Kennedy and Richard M Nixon years ago, President Trump aims to accord Russia its due place in the contemporary international system. He is being aware that there was no justification for the NATO to expand eastward and scare Russia into undertaking an aggressive course against Ukraine.
President Trump seems to be very much aware that, in May 1997, then NATO leaders and Russian President Boris Yeltsin had signed the NATO Russian Founding Act. This Act established a framework for cooperation between the NATO and Russia. The spirit of the famous Budapest Memorandum (December 1994) prohibited the United States from threatening Russia. But nothing has been honoured. The US supported NATO expansion as a necessary step to ensure the security and sovereignty of Central European countries. It viewed NATO as an “insurance policy” against future uncertainties.
The observers add that, in addition to Washington, New Delhi has been playing a very commendable role, albeit quietly, in establishing peace between Moscow and Kyiv. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has throughout been for peace in Ukraine “not through the battlefield but on the negotiation table.” His peace approach has had its own appeal on Russia and Ukraine both. Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski is absolutely right to have asserted recently that Prime Minister Modi was able to persuade Russian President Putin not to use tactical nuclear weapons. He could convince both Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky that ours was not the time for war.
