Also puts the Boris story to bed for good
David Arakhamia, the head of President Vladimir Zelensky's parliamentary faction, was the chief negotiator at the botched peace talks in Istanbul, held early into the ongoing conflict.
The MP made the bombshell revelation on Friday in an interview with the Ukrainian 1+1 TV channel. "Russia's goal was to put pressure on us so that we would take neutrality. This was the main thing for them," he said. "And that we would give an obligation that we would not join NATO. This was the main thing."
However, Kiev did not actually trust Moscow to keep its word and did not want to reach such a deal without third-party "security guarantees," Arakhamia claimed, while revealing the lead role in derailing the agreement was played by Johnson.
When we returned from Istanbul, Boris Johnson came to Kiev and said that we would not sign anything with [the Russians] at all. And [said] 'let's just continue fighting.'
The pivotal role played by Johnson in Ukraine's decision to scrap the draft agreement with Russia - signed by Arakhamia personally in Istanbul - has long been rumored, with initial reports on the matter emerging in Ukrainian media as early as May 2022. Until now, however, it was neither denied nor confirmed by any of the parties involved.
November 2023