Global Research: 16-01-2025,
The US and its Western partners had an opportunity to finalize a peace deal between Moscow and Kiev in Istanbul in 2022, but they instead favoured continuing the war in the belief that it would weaken Russia, The American Conservative reported. This revelation comes as it was discovered that US President-elect Donald Trump’s intention to cut military aid to Ukraine and begin negotiations with Russia has the support of at least half of Americans.
“When the bilateral talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul bore the promise of a negotiated settlement and even produced an initialed draft agreement, instead of encouraging and fully exploring diplomacy, the U.S. and its Western partners discouraged the talks,” the American Conservative article states, adding that the latest testimonies from Swiss, Ukrainian and American officials augment to the growing number of witnesses to this.
In March and April of 2022, just weeks after Russia launched the special military operation in late February, Ukrainian and Russian officials met in Turkey’s largest city to negotiate and initial a draft peace treaty. It is also recalled that Oleksiy Arestovych, a former Advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine and a member of the initial Ukrainian negotiating team, revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin were scheduled to meet on April 9 to sign a ceasefire but that Washington discouraged it.
Although the majority of blame for the collapse of the peace effort was put on then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson,