DISINFO: Russia and Ukraine have begun secret peace talks
SUMMARY
Serious peace talks between Russia and Ukraine gained momentum. Their driving force was not Washington or Moscow, not Biden or Putin, but two high-ranking generals directing the war: Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, and Valerii Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The question of a possible fixing of borders along the current front line with Russia is being discussed, whereby Russia retains Crimea and the liberated territories of the DNR, LNR, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions in exchange for an agreement on Ukraine’s accession to NATO with several restrictive conditions.
RESPONSE
The statement was published by Seymour Hersh and picked up by Russian media, claiming that Ukrainian General Valerii Zaluzhny and Russian General Valery Gerasimov are secretly negotiating a deal that could potentially end the Ukraine war.
The story is not supported by any evidence, but by “anonymous” sources. The Russian report on the Hersh story has disappeared from Sputnik's site.
It is known that Ukrainian President Zelenskyy does not intend to negotiate with Vladimir Putin. "This is impossible with this Russian president. He does not know what dignity and honesty are. Therefore, we are ready for dialogue with Russia, but with another Russian president," he said.
Another doubtful assertion of Hersh's is that Russia will not object to Ukraine joining NATO provided that there are no NATO bases in Ukraine.
Pro-Kremlin disinformation has systematically instrumentalised the narrative that Russia wants peace in Ukraine, but, as evidenced by Russia's actions in Ukraine, such statements are most likely PR stunts deployed to garner support for Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine. Sergei Lavrov's latest statement at the OSCE meeting shows that Russia is not interested in peace negotiations.
As far as peace negotiations are concerned, the EU Council Conclusions of 09 February 2023 state unequivocally:
"Russia must stop this atrocious war immediately. The European Union will stand by Ukraine with its steadfast support for as long as it takes."
The European Union endorsed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace plan which provides for the restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders of 1991.
In February 2023, Pulitzer Prize-winning US journalist Seymour Hersh said that U.S. Navy divers, in a CIA operation ordered by President Joe Biden, planted explosives that destroyed three Russian gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea last September.
Recent works by Hersh has been controversial and widely panned by journalists for promoting conspiratorial claims that hinge on dubious anonymous sources or speculation. Examples of controversial claims made later in Hersh's career include allegations that Turkey, not Russia, was behind a chemical weapons attack in Syria, and that Trump authorised an airstrike in Syria in response to Russia's alleged use of chemical weapons, even while knowing Russia did not use such weapons.
See other cases: the EU does not want peace, only total defeat of Russia; Russia is ready to negotiate for peace, but the Kyiv regime wants to continue the war; Western calls for negotiations are a tactical ploy to reload Kyiv with weapons.