Italy proposes UN plan for peaceful settlement in Ukraine

According to the newspaper La Repubblica on Thursday, this plan, prepared by the Foreign Ministry with the participation of the prime minister, was submitted the day before by Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio to UN Secretary General António Guterres. Representatives of the G-7 countries have also been informed of the initiative.

According to the presented roadmap, the newspaper reported, the first stage should be to achieve a temporary ceasefire, on the condition that negotiations could continue. The implementation of the plan is expected to be overseen by an international mediation (or facilitation) team that would include countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, the United States, China, Canada, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Israel that have already shown willingness to participate. In search of a way out of the crisis, international organizations, mainly the UN and the EU, will be asked to participate.

The second stage could see the start of international negotiations on the status of Ukraine, which presuppose its neutrality together with security guarantees. This status should also imply unhindered accession to the EU. To achieve these goals, an international peace conference could be organised.

Further, with international mediation, the “territorial dispute” between Russia and Ukraine should be discussed. According to Repubblica, the proposals formulated by Rome imply full autonomy of Crimea and Donbass with guarantees of the rights to linguistic and cultural affiliation, the establishment of full self-government and independent security, but while maintaining the territorial integrity of Ukraine and asserting its internationally recognized borders.

At the fourth stage, a multilateral agreement on the peace and security of Europe is assumed in order to regulate relations between the EU and the Russian Federation. Among the priority tasks are strategic stability, disarmament and arms control, conflict prevention and measures to strengthen mutual confidence. It also provides for the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from the occupied territories, to which the gradual lifting of sanctions would be linked.