Russian media reveal "memorandum": demands include elections in Ukraine and withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from four oblasts

Russian state news agencies published the text of the Russian "memorandum of settlement", containing proposals for a ceasefire, on the evening of 2 June.

Source: Kremlin-aligned Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS 

Details: In particular, Russia is demanding the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson oblasts as a condition for a ceasefire.

Another condition is Ukraine's neutrality, which means not joining military alliances and banning the deployment of foreign formations on the territory of Ukraine.

The list of demands also mentions a ceasefire, confirmation that Ukraine will not possess nuclear weapons, the disbandment of Ukrainian "nationalist formations", and restrictions on the maximum number of military personnel in Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

The memorandum also proposes granting the Russian language official status and "ensuring the freedom of the Russian-speaking population".

The document also mentions the following demands for Ukraine:

• lifting all sanctions and refusing to impose new ones;
• waiving "mutual claims" in connection with damage caused in the hostilities;
• lifting restrictions on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP);
• gradual restoration of diplomatic and economic ties with Russia, including with "third states".

In the second section, the Russian Federation has put forward two versions of the so-called ceasefire conditions. The first one proposes a gradual withdrawal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson oblasts.

The second option is called the "package proposal" and includes the following:

• a ban on the redeployment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces;
• the cessation of mobilisation and the start of demobilisation;
• the cessation of foreign arms supplies, including the provision of reconnaissance and satellite communications;
• a ban on the deployment of foreign military aid on the territory of Ukraine;
• guarantees to refrain from "sabotage and subversive activities on the territory of the Russian Federation";
• mutual amnesty for political prisoners; 
• announcement of the date of presidential and parliamentary elections, which should supposedly take place no later than one hundred days after the lifting of martial law.

To adopt the memorandum, the Russian delegation has proposed declaring a 2-3-day ceasefire to collect bodies from the grey zone and arrange the transfer of 6,000 bodies of fallen defenders to Ukraine.

Background: 

• The meeting between the delegations of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, which lasted a little over an hour, was the second following the talks on 16 May.
• At the meeting in Istanbul on Monday 2 June, the Ukrainian and Russian delegations reached an agreement on the next prisoner exchange, which will involve seriously wounded and young soldiers.

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