So spoke Dmitry Medvedev

...and Vladimir Putin.

You may have read/heard of the peace proposal put forward this afternoon by Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, for the Russo-Ukrainian war, as it has been covered quite extensively also in the Western mainstream media, e.g. Reuters. Just in case you have not heard/read about it, here is Pepe Escobar’s post on his Telegram channel summing up the key points of Putin’s peace proposal (all formatting original):

❗️Key points of Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal for peaceful settlement in Ukraine:

🔶Russia will cease fire and declare its readiness for negotiations immediately after Kiev withdraws its troops from the territory of the new Russian regions;

🔶One of the conditions for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will be a declaration by Kiev that it is abandoning its intentions to join NATO.

🔶The basic agreements on a peaceful settlement should be laid down in international treaties; of course, the lifting of sanctions against Russia is also expected.

🔶There is no talk of freezing the conflict, but of its complete cessation.

🔶Russia is making another real peace proposal today, but if the West and Kiev reject it, the bloodshed will be their responsibility.

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As reported by Reuters and other agencies, this peace proposal has been rejected by Volodimir Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, who has labelled it an “ultimatum”.

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However, as per the title of this article, I wanted to focus more on the statement (in Russian) that Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, posted on his Telegram channel soon after Putin released his statement this afternoon, as it did not get any space on the western MSM. Now that you have the context from the introduction, here is the English translation of Medvedev’s post (all formatting original).

The President addressed the Foreign Ministry board. In my opinion, we should pay special attention to what the head of state said or carefully hinted at in his speech:

First. Russia has repeatedly offered Washington, Europe and NATO to nip the Ukrainian crisis in the bud and prevent a large-scale tragedy. In response, there was only cynical manipulation and outright deception. The first time it happened on this topic was in 2014. It was then that the promise to stop the rampages and provocations of neo-Nazi forces in Kyiv, which was personally given by the US President, culminated in a coup d'état. It resulted in a referendum on the return of Crimea to Russia.

For the second time, the deception was clothed in the Minsk agreements, which turned into a disgusting falsification cooked up only to arm the Kiev authorities. Its Western signatories admitted to this.

The third time this happened was after the beginning of the conflict in the form of the Kiev regime's forced cancellation of the neutrality treaty initialled by it in Istanbul.

This was the result of the boorish pressure of certain American officials and the British freak Johnson, as well as the animal cowardice of the ruling Ukrainian clique, which was afraid of getting a new Maidan.

(By the way, the foreign leader mentioned by Vladimir Putin who visited Moscow in March 2022 was none other than Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who travelled to Kiev after Moscow and proposed a compromise peace with the determination of the fate of the then disputed territories. He was simply sent away, calling him an agent of the Kremlin. Formal idiots who rejected the offer of a possible peace on better terms for them).

Second. Now the situation is quite different. All the new territories have constitutionally become part of Russia. And this is forever. Are further negotiations possible? Yes, they are possible. This is what the head of our state said today, formulating a new idea of ending the conflict, but only taking into account the realities on the ground on the basis of the Istanbul Treaty and the current version of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

Third. It is obvious that events are developing according to a catastrophic scenario for the Bandera regime. It will only get worse, our President said so directly, defining the basis for possible negotiations. The space for compromise is shrinking like a shagreen skin, along with the shrinking territory of the dying country. And the day is not far off when only a narrow strip of it may remain. Russia must protect itself for many years to come. Hence, by the way, the idea of a sanitary zone, which was put forward by Vladimir Putin. This zone could include the whole of b. Ukraine up to the borders with Poland, because that is where the continuous threat comes from. And then what? The President did not say so directly, but it is obvious that such territories, if the people living there wish, can become part of Russia.

Fourth. The "summit of the doomed" starting tomorrow will end in complete fiasco. After all, meaningless "negotiations" in the absence of Russia according to the stillborn formula of Kyiv's clown are just recruiting new extras to take part in a stupid play to legalise Kyiv's blowhard as a full-fledged head of state. But it is clear to everyone, even our opponents, that he is only a pathetic usurper, shaking from fear and drug withdrawal. Putin's systematic interpretation of the Ukrainian constitution leads to a very simple conclusion: the powers of the president cannot be extended under it, they are transferred to the head of parliament.

And the fifth. Now Zelensky is nobody and his name is nothing. He has no power behind him, and his orders should not be executed by anyone. And all the persons appointed by him after the expiry of his powers have no right to make decisions at all. These persons are illegitimate, and their decisions are illegal. Therefore, any Ukrainian serviceman commits a criminal offence when he executes unlawful instructions of the officials appointed by the illegitimate power. Thus, the usurper, who seized power in the country, has turned all the inhabitants of Ukraine into hostages. And every day he sends soldiers to their deaths without having any right to do so. He awaits judgement or massacre by the mob, and b. Ukraine - surrender.

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UPDATE (15/06/2024): Karl Sanchez has posted the English translation of Putin’s speech yesterday (14/06/2024) here, as well as subsequent Lavrov’s presser here on his Geopolitical Gymnasium. However, please mind that the former is a long read (~1 hour), while the latter is a much shorter complementary article.