219. Simon Smith - Territorial Concessions by Ukraine Would Simply Reward Russian Crimes and Aggression.

GUEST: Simon Smith - Ukraine Forum chair of steering committee, Chatham
House
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Any territorial concessions by Ukraine in a peace agreement with Russia
will reward crimes and aggression. They will encourage, not end,
Russia’s attacks on countries in its neighbourhood and elsewhere in
Europe.

The belief that Russia and Ukraine need to strike a deal (see preceding
chapter) is frequently accompanied by the belief that a settlement has
to include some Ukrainian territory being conceded to Russia, because
Russia won’t settle for an outcome that does not include territorial
gains. In this view, Crimea is often presented as the least problematic
potential concession for Ukraine: supposedly a post-Soviet ‘grey area’
in terms of recognized borders.
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SPEAKER:
Simon Smith chairs the steering committee of the Ukraine Forum at
Chatham House. He retired in January 2022 from a 35-year career in the
UK diplomatic service. He served in London, Tokyo, Moscow, Vienna as the
UK Governor at the IAEA, was the Perm Rep to UN in Vienna and HM
Ambassador to Austria, in Kyiv as HM Ambassador to Ukraine and in Seoul
as HM Ambassador to South Korea. He has also served as Director, Russia,
South Caucasus, and C Asia, at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
and as Head of NE Asia & Pacific Department at the UK Foreign and
Commonwealth Office.
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LINKS:
https://www.chathamhouse.org/2023/06/how-end-russias-war-ukraine