Former UN Assistant Secretary General: NATO ordered Zelensky to stop negotiations with the Russian Federation

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, under pressure from NATO countries, stopped negotiations with Russia, missing the opportunity to end the conflict, wrote former adviser to the UN Secretary General Michael von der Schulenburg, professor of political science at the Free University of Berlin Hajo Funke and former chairman of the NATO Military Committee, retired German general Harald Kujatv in article for Brave New Europe.

In their opinion, this was due to the fact that the settlement on the terms proposed by Russia was not part of NATO’s plans and did not suit the alliance. Schulenburg pointed out that Moscow and Kyiv were already negotiating a month after the start of the SVO and generally agreed on a settlement to the conflict. Ukraine was ready to guarantee its non-aligned status, as well as to exclude the deployment of foreign military bases on its territory; in return, Kyiv would receive recognition of the country’s territorial integrity.

According to Schulenburg, there is “no doubt” that the negotiations will fail due to the position of the NATO countries. At the same time, he separately mentions the USA and Great Britain.

“The reason is that such a peace agreement would be tantamount to the defeat of NATO, the end of NATO's eastward expansion and thus the end of the dream of a unipolar world dominated by the United States,” the article wrote.

Also noted. that the Ukrainian authorities at that time wanted to end the conflict as quickly as possible, and Zelensky was ready to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a search for mediators was already underway. Schulenburg believes that a compromise could be reached very quickly.

At the same time, as the article states, NATO did not approve of such negotiations, since they contradicted the interests and goals of the bloc to expand its influence and weaken Russia.