With Turkey and the UN Security Council
Ukraine wants Germany as a security guarantor
03/17/2022, 6:40 p.m
Turkey is trying to mediate between the warring parties. According to the Turkish foreign minister, Ukraine wants Germany as a guarantor for a possible security agreement with Russia. Cavusoglu sees good opportunities for this. Meanwhile, Moscow accuses Kyiv of a lack of “zeal”.
According to Turkish information, Ukraine wants Germany and Turkey to act as guarantors for a possible security agreement with Russia. Ukraine has proposed that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as Turkey and Germany, act as guarantors of a Moscow-Kyiv security agreement, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Lviv.
During a visit to Moscow the day before, he “saw that the Russian Federation sees no obstacle in this and could accept such an offer,” said Cavusoglu, who met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday. “Hopes for a ceasefire have increased,” Cavusoglu said.
Meanwhile, in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his offer to facilitate a summit between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkey.
Ankara calls for escape corridors
Erdogan also suggested sending Turkish observers to monitor a ceasefire for the port city of Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks, so that the people stuck there can leave the city. Foreign Minister Cavusoglu said more than 100 Turks were among those stuck in Mariupol. Turkey is proposing a 24-hour ceasefire and humanitarian corridors that could be monitored by the Red Cross, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) and the Turkish Red Crescent.
Meanwhile, Russian Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow that the Russian delegation to the negotiations with Ukraine was “trying hard” and was “ready to work day and night”. He accused the Ukrainian side of not showing “the same zeal”.
Peskov said the day before that both sides were negotiating a “compromise” that would give Ukraine a neutral status similar to that of Sweden or Austria. The Ukrainian chief negotiator Mykhailo Podoliak had rejected this and emphasized that neutrality would only be possible in return for “absolute security guarantees”.