The 28 points 'read almost like greatest hits of Russia's demands on Ukraine'

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00:01It sounds as though the Europeans are pushing for the territorial concessions not to be

00:06made immediately when Ukraine signs the deal, but to have negotiations start with the situation

00:12at the current line of contact, rather than Ukraine giving up territory that Russia has

00:16not yet taken by force.

00:19And so that's one thing.

00:21Then there's the question of territorial guarantees.

00:24But in these 28 points, which read almost like greatest hits of Russia's demands on Ukraine,

00:31there are all sorts of other issues.

00:33One, for example, is the legalization and recognition of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Ukrainian

00:41Orthodox Church, basically the Russian Orthodox Church, its presence in Ukraine, which has

00:46been used.

00:47And this has been proven by Ukrainian investigators and journalists on numerous occasions all over

00:52the country as, in some cases, a place to store weapons.

00:55But at the same time, the surveillance of intelligence services and of propaganda, asking Ukraine to

01:03legalize it, that's just one thing that I think many people here regard as absolutely unacceptable.

01:09Making Russian a second official language for a majority of Ukrainians is absolutely unacceptable.

01:15Limitations on the size of the army.

01:16Apparently, the Europeans, that's one of the things they're trying to reduce the limitations.

01:20Well, perhaps Ukraine would say we can't recruit that many people anyway, because they have so many

01:25problems at the moment with getting people to sign up to the armed forces, given how dangerous it is to be

01:32on the front lines.

01:33But I think limitations on the use of certain weapons or even having certain weapons in

01:38their arsenal, that is definitely something that many in Ukraine find unacceptable.

01:44So to hear Rusty Momerov, the head of the National Security and Defense Council,

01:48who's in the Ukrainian delegation there in Geneva, come out saying that the new plan is taking into

01:54account most of Ukraine's demands is something that raised a lot of eyebrows here, because there are

02:00really a lot of things that would need to be rectified for this plan to be acceptable to Ukraine in the eyes

02:05not only of most Ukrainian politicians, other than those who are trying to be as diplomatic as possible

02:12approaching these talks who are in Zelensky's immediate team, but also in the eyes of most

02:17international commentators.

02:18There is just so much that's wrong with this plan.

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