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He stated this during a conversation with journalists at the American University Kyiv, Ukrinform reports.
“This is not the former Yugoslavia or Bosnia and Herzegovina, where I spent a year as head of peacekeeping operations. Ukrainian security forces are more than capable of keeping the peace if Russia stops the war,” he stressed.
In contrast to the idea of peacekeepers, Petraeus spoke in favor of "ironclad" security guarantees that would specify steps to be taken if Russia violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement, such as a military response, financial and economic, diplomatic, including the seizure of $300 billion in frozen assets.
“I think an agreement that will lead to a ceasefire is obviously very, very desirable, despite the fact, unfortunately, that it was not possible to liberate the entire path to the 1991 borders. When the guns fall silent in Ukraine, the country will become the industrial, military, technological center of all of Europe and, perhaps, most of the world. What has been done here will inspire similar measures around the world,” he said.
At the same time, Petraeus called the official and legal concession of territories to the Russian side a red line in the negotiations.
The former CIA director is confident that Ukraine's future will be bright, and the largest investment companies will finance major projects. "If these guns fall silent, I think it would be a gift to everyone, but only on the condition of long-term and strong security guarantees so that we do not have a repeat of the Budapest Memorandum," Petraeus said.
Photo: EPA
