MELITOPOL, December 2. /TASS/. The suggestion by former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that Ukraine could make territorial concessions speaks to plans by the West to find a stop-gap solution for now and then violate any agreements in the future, Russian Civic Chamber member Vladimir Rogov said.

"Stoltenberg's statement speaks to the West's potential currently being not big enough to dictate its demands to Russia and impose its will, so it is starting to pitch proposals to see where we can have concessions," said the official, who is chairman of the Civic Chamber's commission on sovereignty, patriotic projects and support for veterans.

According to Rogov, that’s because the situation is becoming increasingly alarming for the West, and the risks of a complete loss of control over the territories that Kiev considers to be its own are becoming more and more palpable.

"The West only talks about negotiations, peace or truce when it smells defeat. Stoltenberg essentially concedes that they are looking for options to deceive Russia again, to agree on something and then violate these agreements. Suffice it to remember the Minsk agreements," he said.

Stoltenberg, the incoming chairman of the Munich Security Conference, said Ukraine could make territorial concessions to achieve peace. According to his idea, the ceasefire line should include the Russian regions of Donbass and Novorossiya, which Ukraine considers to be its own, "which is not quite realistic in the near future." He said Ukraine should be granted NATO membership only within the territory it now controls, and if Kiev gives up any claims for disputed regions for good.

The issue of borders and "the NATO umbrella"

On November 29, Vladimir Zelensky said in an interview with Sky News that the "hot phase of the war" could be ended if Kiev-controlled territories were placed under "the NATO umbrella." Ukraine had not considered such a proposal officially, as it had not been formally put forward, he said. Ukraine’s Strana news outlet noted that this was Zelensky’s first statement since February 2022 indicating he was ready to end the conflict without the recovery of the lost territories.

Previously, Ukrainian authorities repeatedly stated that Ukraine could not become a NATO member without some of its territories, and had reiterated their readiness to continue the conflict until the country reached its 1991 borders. This week, chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andrey Yermak, conceded that Ukraine could start negotiations with Russia without demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops to the 1991 borders. He said the situation should be rolled back at least to the status as of February 23, 2022.