LONDON, February 10. /TASS/. Ukraine must forget about lost territories or any plans to join NATO for the foreseeable future for the sake of peace, Lord Richard Balfe, a member of the House of Lords of the British Parliament, told a TASS correspondent, commenting on the potential terms of ending the Ukraine conflict.
"Ukraine must withdraw from Kursk and accept that Crimea and the eastern [regions] are part of the Russian Federation. There should be no reparations clause on either side," Balfe noted, adding that Russia’s assets frozen by the West must be returned to Moscow.
According to the politician, there should be an agreement that Ukraine would not join NATO or host any foreign troops for a period of at least 25 years. In his opinion, in turn, Russia must agree not to make any territorial claims on the Baltic countries to end any talk of Russia’s alleged threat to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
"A solution to the problem of Transnistria should be sought with the Moldovan government and should include neutrality clauses similar to those with the Ukraine. This seems a useful starting point to me," the parliamentarian concluded.
Balfe, 80, was a member of the European Parliament in 1979-2004, a member of the UK Labour Party for most of that time. In 2002, he joined the Conservative Party, and in 2013 he was granted life peerage and the title of lord.