How the United States Has Prevented Peace in Ukraine
In an interview, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was questioned on his envisioned the war in Ukraine ending through negotiations with Russia. In the interview, Blinkin responded by arguing the position of the United States has always been through diplomacy and peace, arguing that Russia is the one preventing peace when he claimed, “it takes two to tango.” He then commented that, “And thus far, we see no indication that Vladimir Putin has any interest in meaningful diplomacy” before adding that “If he does, I think the Ukrainians will be the first to engage, and we’ll be right behind them.”
While Blinken’s attempts to label Russia as unwilling to negotiate might be convincing to some, the reality of negotiations are not in line with Blinken’s comments.
Immediately after the war began, Volodymyr Zelenski began to give up hopes for NATO membership for the sake of peace. "We are not afraid to talk to Russia. We are not afraid to say everything about security guarantees for our state. We are not afraid to talk about neutral status. We are not in NATO now … We need to talk about the end of this invasion. We need to talk about a ceasefire."
Talks for a ceasefire began in Belarus to discuss neutrality. While both sides continued to discuss, the United States made sure peace was not going to happen. When United States State Department spokesman Ned Price was asked about the peace talks, he replied that “Now we see Moscow suggesting that diplomacy take place at the barrel of a gun or as Moscow’s rockets, mortars, artillery target the Ukrainian people. This is not real diplomacy. Those are not the conditions for real diplomacy.”
While this attempt was a failure, negotiations again arose shortly afterwards. Then-Israeli prime minister Nafti Bennett made a visit to Moscow and spoke with Zelensky to resolve the conflict. According to Bennett, Zelensky was the one who contacted him to talk with Putin to end the conflict, with both sides being onboard of negotiating peace.
Bennett was in constant discussions with other countries like France, Germany, and the United States. The United States told him there was no chance of peace. However, Putin claimed he was willing to make concessions, including a promise to not kill Zelensky and renounced Russia’s demanded “disarmament in Ukraine.” Zelensky was also willing to make concessions like not joining NATO.
Both sides were willing to agree to a compromise that would protect the interests of both sides, including Ukraine’s desire for security by adopting “a strong, independent army that can defend itself.” Bennett revealed that in private, the United States effectively blocked it and encouraged Ukraine to keep striking Russia. While in public Ukraine was making it seem like they were surrendering, private conversations told a different story.
Yet again, the talks for negotiating peace would arise. In April 2022, officials from both countries met in Istanbul. According to reports, Russia would withdraw to the positions it held prior to the invasion on February 24. In exchange, Ukraine would not seek NATO membership and would seek security guarantees from other countries.
However, the peace negotiations were thwarted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In his meeting with Zelensky in early April, he reportedly told Zelenski to give up negotiating with Putin and continue to fight. According to David DeCamp, “Johnson told Zelensky that even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, Kyiv’s Western backers are not. The report said that Russia was ready for a meeting between Putin and Zelensky on the potential peace deal, but it became less likely after Johnson’s visit.”
The United States also helped “throw away” the deal according to Putin. Putin claimed that United States interests were not in line with Ukraine’s and the United States made sure that they were since the war has developed into the United States and NATO’s goals.
The last point was confirmed after Responsible Statecraft reported on the Pentagon’s leaked documents.
And why did the United States and NATO allies you ask? As Ned Price put it, “This is a war, that is in many ways bigger than Russia, it’s bigger than Ukraine.” The United States needed Ukraine to keep fighting in pursuit of NATO’s goals and its “core principles.”
Despite Ukraine and Russia’s willingness to negotiate for peace, the United States had continued to stand in its way and prevent that peace from occurring.