The United States is ready to recognize Russiaʼs control over Crimea and other occupied Ukrainian territories in exchange for Russia signing a peace agreement.
This is reported by The Telegraph.
According to media reports, the US President Donald Trump sent Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to Moscow to deliver this proposal to Putin personally.
The first version of the 28-point peace plan called for the de facto recognition of Crimea and the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by Russia. It proposed freezing the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia along the contact line.
After a series of talks between the US and Ukraine in Geneva, the plan was reduced to 19 points, but sources told The Telegraph that the idea of recognizing the occupied territories as Russian is still on Washingtonʼs agenda.
However, Ukraine will not be forced to recognize Russian control over its territories.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the Americans do not care about the European position. They say that the Europeans can do what they see fit,” a source tells The Telegraph.
Putin recently stated that for Russia, legal recognition of Crimea and Donbas as "Russian" will be one of the key issues in negotiations on a peace plan.
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