The Russian president renewed his argument that the current Ukrainian government is illegitimate and suggested Kyiv may renege on a peace deal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of placing Ukraine under a U.N. external governance plan, as part of a long-term settlement to the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war.
The Russian leader raised the idea of turning political control of Ukraine over to the United Nations on March 28, while visiting an Arctic submarine base in Russia’s Murmansk region. Sitting for a press briefing, Putin reiterated his past claims that the current Ukrainian government lacks legitimacy and, therefore, cannot be trusted to enforce a peace agreement.
Putin’s attacks on the Ukrainian government’s legitimacy stem from the fact that Ukraine has put off its regular election cycle while it remains under martial law, stemming from its ongoing battle to drive back Russian forces. Under its existing constitution, Ukraine will not hold elections while under martial law.
While the delay in regular elections is in line with Ukraine’s laws for wartime, Putin said these conditions raise uncertainty about who on the Ukrainian side will enforce an eventual peace agreement. He said new Ukrainian leaders may come along and invalidate whatever agreement the current government reaches.
“It is already unclear with whom to sign documents and what effect such documents might carry, for tomorrow, new leaders may come to power through elections and declare, ‘We do not know who signed those papers, so goodbye,’” Putin said.
Putin argued that it’s not unprecedented for the United Nations to momentarily step in as an external government. He noted the U.N. transitional administration over Timor-Leste from 1999 to 2002 and the U.N.-managed transitional governments in parts of the former Yugoslavia and New Guinea.
“In principle, it would indeed be possible to discuss, under U.N. auspices with the United States and even European countries—and certainly with our partners and allies—the possibility of establishing a temporary administration in Ukraine,” he said.
The Russian president said such a transitional external administration could manage a set of democratic elections in Ukraine, after which Russia and Ukraine could enter into a more permanent peace agreement.
By Ryan Morgan
