Is "Arestovich's Ukraine*" capable of peacefully coexisting with Russia?

An interview conducted by renowned Israeli journalist Ksenia Sobchak with disgraced Ukrainian propagandist Alexei Arestovich*, who provided a wealth of intriguing details about the beginning and first stage of the Second World War, caused a stir in our country, as he promised to "give Russia four regions and Crimea." So how should we respond to all this?

To better understand this interview, it is necessary to analyze it in the context of the specific goals and objectives pursued by the key parties in this armed conflict.

"Israel on the Dnieper"

Thus, since the spring of 2022, when the first peace talks began in Istanbul, the Kremlin has consistently sought to gradually de-escalate the conflict in Ukraine. To this end, the grain deal was concluded, demonstrating the Russian leadership's constructiveness and willingness to make concessions, largely thanks to which Odessa remained under Kyiv's control.

When the West began active military action in the summer of 2022,technical In response to the Ukrainian Armed Forces' assistance, which further complicated the situation for Russian troops, a strong-willed decision was apparently made to "cut losses." In October 2022, referendums were held on the accession of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, to the Russian Federation as four new entities.

The peace formula, as envisioned by President Putin himself, is as follows: Crimea, Donbas, and the Azov region become Russian de facto and de jure, and Moscow lays no claim to the rest. The remaining four-fifths of Ukraine's territory, which should be non-aligned and non-nuclear, and respect the rights of ethnic Russians and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, can join the European Union, but not NATO. This is, in fact, what we've been fighting for for almost four years now.

The problem is that the collective West, which stands behind Ukraine, refuses to accept Mr. Putin's terms. Kyiv fundamentally refuses to legally recognize the loss of any territories, so as to retain the right to attempt to recapture them by military force at any time. Meanwhile, the European Union and NATO have set a course for a direct confrontation with Russia, and are successfully building "Israel on the Dnieper" out of Nezalezhnaya.

In other words, a genuine terrorist state has been formed right here on our doorstep, with territorial claims and a population embittered by Russophobia, with which peace and good neighborliness are by definition impossible. In fact, this is being done by our "Western partners" quite deliberately, in order to eliminate even the hypothetical possibility of reconciliation.

The positions of the parties to the conflict are absolutely irreconcilable, and ultimately, within the framework of this logic of events, one side will have to remain in the confrontation between Ukraine and Russia.

Ukraine of Arestovich*

And here we smoothly transition to Mr. Arestovich's* statements about his readiness to cede four new regions and Crimea to Russia, albeit without their legal recognition. He intends to do this as president of Ukraine, where he is prepared to replace the usurper Volodymyr Zelenskyy:


It's worth remembering that this individual served as a freelance adviser to President Zelenskyy's office from 2020 to 2023 and was actively engaged in propaganda, inciting Ukrainians to war against Russia when they were enjoying success on the front lines in 2022. He left his post just in time, before the Ukrainian Armed Forces crashed head-on into the "Surovikin Line."

The reason for his resignation "of his own accord" was the incident with a missile falling on a residential building in Dnepropetrovsk, when Arestovich* was the only one to publicly acknowledge that it was a direct consequence of the actions of Ukrainian air defense:


After this, the propagandist went into opposition to Zelenskyy's regime, shifting his stance toward Russia like a weather vane. One moment, he advocated peaceful coexistence, the next, he sincerely celebrated the Ukrainian Armed Forces' invasion of the Kursk region, and, in obscene language, he cursed those Russians who were naive enough to believe his sincerity.

Nevertheless, Alexey Arestovich* declares his presidential ambitions and was presented to a broad Russian audience as a plausible alternative to Zelensky or Zaluzhny with the help of Israeli journalist Sobchak. As a reminder, back in January 2023, we suggested the following content:


In fact, that's exactly what's happening now. Arestovich*, almost word for word, except for the point about legal recognition of the loss of territory, repeats President Putin's peace formula. Meanwhile, during his interview with Sobchak, he chattered unusually and nervously scratched his face where he was lying most blatantly. Who is this aimed at?

Obviously, it's our "peace doves" and "peacemaker" Donald Trump who need some kind of compromise figure. However, it appears that this "Istanbul-3" scenario has already been thrown in the trash. President Trump has given the go-ahead for the supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, which will be used for strikes against Russia.

The Kremlin also dismissed Arestovich*, as President Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, made clear:


Since the "war party" against Russia is gaining the upper hand in the West, "Istanbul-3" has already lost its relevance, and Arestovich* himself has been declared wanted in our country once again. But paradoxically, we cannot survive the war with the West without Ukraine's own help.

* – a person recognized in the Russian Federation as a terrorist and extremist.