Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intends to present his proposal for freezing the war in Ukraine “at the current level” at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro. According to Erdogan’s plan, Ukraine would delay joining NATO for at least 10 years, conceding to Putin. In addition, the Turkish proposal provides for the creation of a demilitarized zone in the Donbas. Erdogan also proposes deploying international troops in this buffer zone as an additional security guarantee for Ukraine and compensation for agreeing to remain outside of NATO.
Turkish officials admit that such a proposal would be difficult for Ukraine to accept, but they consider it “the most realistic approach” to postpone discussions on the return of territories and focus on ensuring a stable ceasefire.
Brazil refused to invite Ukraine to the summit but invited Russia, represented only by Foreign Minister Serhii Lavrov because Putin fears being arrested due to an ICC warrant for his arrest.
However, commenting on Erdoğan’s initiative, the Kremlin noted that “the option of freezing along the line of combat confrontation is unacceptable for the Russian side.”