Just peace in Ukraine is rather illusion, reality will be slightly different - Czech President Pavel
Czech President Petr Pavel believes that a temporary "compromise" on the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine is possible if such a decision stops the war. However, it will last until both sides realize that it is no longer possible to continue fighting.
He stated this in the PoliTalk podcast, the text version of which was published by Novinky, Censor.NET reports.
In his opinion, the war in Ukraine will continue until there is enough force to convince both sides that they cannot achieve their political goals by military means, and then negotiations will take place.
"This could happen this year, but it could also happen next year, or maybe in many years. It is possible that the conflict could move from a hot phase to a frozen one, which could last for years," the Czech president said.
Negotiations with Russia and a temporary "compromise"
Pavlo also touched upon the topic of a just peace in Ukraine.
According to him, if such a peace is imagined in the category of 100 percent or nothing, it will mean the restoration of Ukraine's full control over its territory, including Crimea.
But this, as we all probably feel, is more of an illusion. The reality will be somewhat different. We should talk about the desire to get as close as possible to a just peace," the Czech president emphasized.
In the case of peace talks, he believes that it is likely that Russia will occupy part of Ukrainian territory for a long time.
At the same time, world powers, not only the United States but also China, should make a significant contribution to the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia and "push both countries to negotiate politically, economically, and diplomatically."
Is NATO membership possible?
"From the point of view of democratic countries that subscribe to respect for international law and the UN Charter, we must respect the agreements between the warring parties, but we will not accept the change of international borders based on aggression. We will consider the territories occupied by Russia to be temporarily occupied," the Czech leader said.
Pavel does not believe that full restoration of Kyiv's control over the entire Ukrainian territory should be a prerequisite for Ukraine's membership in NATO.
"If some administrative border is drawn, we can consider this administrative border as temporary and accept Ukraine into NATO on the territory it will control at that time," he added.
