By Donald Ramotar Former President of  Guyana

   Immediately after the meeting the media once again opened some serious slanders against President Trump. Saying things such as he (President Trump) was out maneuvered, outsmarted by President Putin. This was a deliberate attempt to disparage President Trump.

   The fact is that the meeting was a success. The main outcome was that the parties should push for a lasting agreement to end the war and restore peace instead of working for a “ceasefire”, which could be easily broken.

   Russia’s concern is that a ceasefire can prolong the war. It fears that Ukraine and its European backers will use the period of a ceasefire to rearm and recruit and train more soldiers to resume the war.

   The Russians have reasons to believe that that is the plan. Recall that eight years before the Ukraine/Russia war, the US and the EU had agreed to a process which would have seen some autonomy be given to the regions in Ukraine where the population was predominantly Russian.   

   This agreement was sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council, while Germany and France took the responsibility to see that it was implemented.

   Later on, the then Chancellor of Germany, Ms. Merkel and the then President of France Mr. Francios Hollande admitted that it was just a rouse to give NATO more time to arm Ukraine.

Recall too, that days after the Russian Special military operation began, Russia and Ukraine had come to an agreement to implement the Minsk agreement. Before it could have been signed the former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson flew to Kyiv and stopped Zelensky from signing the agreement with the promise of NATO’S help for Ukraine to defeat Russia.

   Russia having had those experiences is not willing to put all their trust in a cease fire, instead they are saying that let’s move to end the conflict in a definitive way.

   Many people have been saying that Ukraine borders should not be changed even though they reneged on all the agreements that were reached. They are basing their arguments on the UN charter on sovereignty. However, they conveniently forget another important principle of the UN, that is “The Right of Nations to Self-Determination.”

   In the case of Ukraine at the time of the coup in 2014 Donetsk and Luhansk, two regions (Oblast) had broken away from the Ukraine and established themselves as independent countries since 2014. They took that drastic step because the regime in Ukraine had banned the use of their mother tongue, Russian, and began burning books written in Russian among other atrocities. Their national traditions were being trampled on, including their Orthodox church.

   he Ukrainian regime then began a war against the two Oblasts. More than fourteen thousand Russia people mainly civilians were killed. Yet Russia tried to make peace and only recognised those as independent states in 2022, just before they began their military operation. Therefore, the talk of Russia wants more land has proven to be nonsense!

   Moreover, before Russia accepted those areas as part of its territory, Referenda were held in which the population overwhelmingly voted to join the Russian Federation as the Russian people did earlier in Crimea.

   These were all done in accordance with International Law. Therefore, all the talks by Western media and propagandists are useless and baseless. If anyone believes that this was an anomaly, they should recall what happened in the former Yugoslavia in the late 1990s. When the US wanted to establish a military base in Kosovo they just broke it away from Serbia. No referendum was ever held.

    The other issues that must be discussed to bring the conflict to an end relate to the security of Russia and Ukraine. Recall that Russia had to deal with many broken promises from the collective West. The first was given in 1991 when Russia agreed (then the Soviet Union) to allow for the re-unification of Germany, the US and Germany, the two leading members of NATO promised that NATO would not move one inch eastward from Germany.

   En passant, Britain, under Margaret Thacher was against the re-unification of Germany.

NATO broke that promise and moved more than one thousand miles towards Russia. The whole idea was to encircle Russia with Military bases.

   In regard to Ukraine and Georgia, Russia decided to put its feet down. Allowing them to join NATO with the possibility of putting missiles on its borders was totally unacceptable to Russia. Should that happen a missile fired from Ukraine or Georgia could hit Moscow in less than three minutes. Russia viewed this as an existential threat.

   Ukraine joining NATO is in violation of another principle which the UN had agreed to, i.e. no country should increase its security at the expense of another.

   History shows us how dangerous the violation of that principle could be. In 1962, the Soviet Union and the United States almost went to war when the Soviet Union installed missiles in Cuba. That was to protect Cuba on the one hand and on the other it was a response to US putting missiles in Turkey, on the border of the Soviet Union. That was resolved when both countries withdrew the offensive weapons from Cuba and Turkey.

   It is clear therefore that Ukraine’s accession into NATO is unacceptable to Russia and a violation of an important international principle.

   Presidents Trump and Putin have displayed remarkable wisdom and responsibility for the world when they seem to have agreed to proceed to direct peace negotiations and not just a ceasefire.

   The hysteria of the media shows how war mongering European leaders and sections of the Ruling class in the US Congress and Senate really are. For the war mongers domination and profits are more important than people’s lives.

   President Trump needs all the support to resist the pressures that are being placed on him. It is hoped he will show his mettle in resisting the war lords.

It is also hoped he will find the strength to stop the Israeli Genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and in East Jerusalem.