Henry Kissinger warned the West that a humiliating defeat for Russia could lead to destabilisation, and said that Ukraine must concede territory to Russia to end the war.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the legendary statesman made the comments in a conference at the World Economic Forum.
One of the world's foremost advocates of realpolitik, Kissinger was the architect of the Nixon administration's relationship with China.
Negotiations need to start in the next two months before there are upheavals and tensions that will not be easy to overcome. The dividing line should be a return to the status quo ante according to Kissinger.
The war would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia.
The status quo ante means how things were before, and it implies that the situation in east Ukraine should be restored on February 24.
The idea of giving up any territory was opposed by Ukrainian officials.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would only accept Russia giving up its claims to land in the country.
The New York Times editorial last week argued that Ukraine would have to make territorial concessions in order to sign a peace deal.
The rebuttal from Podolyak was in response to the article, which stated that the initial peace talks with Russia failed to produce any results.
—Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) May 21, 2022
He mentioned in a post on Tuesday that this idea was being discussed at the World Economic Forum, but he did not say where or who it was being discussed.
—Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) May 24, 2022
According to The Telegraph, Kissinger said that Russia had been an essential part of Europe for 400 years.
He argued that the West shouldn't push Russia into an alliance with China.
He said that he hoped the Ukrainians would match the heroism they had shown and that their proper place was as a neutral buffer state rather than a fully integrated part of Europe.
In recent months, cracks have been showing in the western alliance against Russia's aggression, with isolationist Republican lawmakers in the US opposing a $40 billion aid package to Ukraine, and Hungary stymies European Union attempts to blockade Russian oil. Public opposition to the war may increase as inflation increases.
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