As war began, Putin rejected a Ukraine peace deal recommended by aide

[Nevilledog]

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Zack Beauchamp
@zackbeauchamp
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This story, if true, is fatal to the theory that NATO expansion caused the Ukraine war
A Ukrainian serviceman stands at a Polish self-propelled howitzer Krab, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Kharkiv region,Ukraine September 13, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
reuters.com
Exclusive: As war began, Putin rejected a Ukraine peace deal recommended by aide
Putin's chief envoy on Ukraine told the Russian leader as the war began that he had struck a provisional deal with Kyiv that would satisfy Russia's demand that Ukraine stay out of NATO, but Putin...
12:33 PM · Sep 14, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-war-began-putin-rejected-ukraine-peace-deal-recommended-by-his-aide-2022-09-14/

PARIS, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin's chief envoy on Ukraine told the Russian leader as the war began that he had struck a provisional deal with Kyiv that would satisfy Russia's demand that Ukraine stay out of NATO, but Putin rejected it and pressed ahead with his military campaign, according to three people close to the Russian leadership.

The Ukrainian-born envoy, Dmitry Kozak, told Putin that he believed the deal he had hammered out removed the need for Russia to pursue a large-scale occupation of Ukraine, according to these sources. Kozak's recommendation to Putin to adopt the deal is being reported by Reuters for the first time.

Putin had repeatedly asserted prior to the war that NATO and its military infrastructure were creeping closer to Russia's borders by accepting new members from eastern Europe, and that the alliance was now preparing to bring Ukraine into its orbit too. Putin publicly said that represented an existential threat to Russia, forcing him to react.

But, despite earlier backing the negotiations, Putin made it clear when presented with Kozak's deal that the concessions negotiated by his aide did not go far enough and that he had expanded his objectives to include annexing swathes of Ukrainian territory, the sources said. The upshot: the deal was dropped.

*snip*

[underpants]

1. In a word, genius

[Bev54]

2. I never bought into the NATO expansion theory at any time. It was clear that Putin

wanted the Ukraine territory and assets, he has never had respect for them as an individual sovereign people. He is a greedy tyrant.

[crickets]

3. Exactly, and it's coming back to bite him now. nt

[Irish_Dem]

4. Putin wanted to show the world that he was a force to be reckoned with, a superpower.

He needed to establish total regional control and make it known he was a brutal, fierce
enemy to the West.

The plan was for Putin to control the west, China would control the east.

Now China is going to have to proceed on its own.