Peace treaty with Ukraine could have been signed on February 28, 2022 — negotiator

MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. A peace treaty with Ukraine could have been signed on February 28, 2022, if Ukraine wanted and could make independent decisions, Russian lead negotiator and Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky told RT in an interview.

"If Ukraine had wanted, if had been ready, if it could decide for itself, we would have signed a peace treaty on February 28, 2022, during the first meeting," he said. "And its provisions were softer than what we are offering today."

"In fact, all we wanted was Ukraine’s refusal to join NATO and host foreign military bases on its territory," he said. "The second [precondition] was to return the Russian language and the Orthodox Church with equal rights."

"The Russian language, which is spoken by three thirds of the population and is a mother tongue for more than a half <…>, is prohibited in Ukraine," Medinsky added.

"The third provision was to recognize [Russia’s sovereignty over] Crimea, because it is an undeniable fact: Crimea has held the most democratic referendum that one can only imagine," he continued.