Georgia speaker says Boris Johnson scuttled 2022 Ukraine-Russia peace talks
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has accused former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of playing a key role in derailing peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in 2022, arguing that the conflict could have been brought to an end at an early stage.
Commenting on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's open letter proposing the resumption of direct dialogue with Moscow, Papuashvili said any initiative aimed at ending the war was important but claimed opportunities for peace had been missed, News.Az reports, citing News Georgia.
“Any initiative to end the war is important,” he said, adding that the conflict “could have been stopped at the very beginning”.
According to Papuashvili, the two sides had initialled a draft peace agreement in Istanbul in April 2022, but the process was later abandoned following political intervention.
“The Ukrainian delegation was led by Davyd Arakhamia, and he himself spoke about the existence of terms that were acceptable for Ukraine,” Papuashvili said.
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The Georgian speaker alleged that then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson exerted direct pressure on Kyiv to abandon the negotiations.
“Boris Johnson came to Kyiv and said: no agreement, let's fight,” Papuashvili said. “Since then, Ukraine has been at war for four years, while former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks around freely, attends conferences and takes part in seminars.”
He described this as an “irresponsible attitude towards the fate of another country”, adding that the consequences of those decisions continue to be felt today.
Papuashvili also argued that the terms currently being discussed to end the conflict are less favourable to Ukraine than those contained in the draft Istanbul agreement.
“The conditions being discussed today are worse than those contained in the draft Istanbul agreement of April 2022,” he said, citing remarks previously made by Arakhamia.
The Georgian parliament speaker further suggested that responsibility for the prolongation of the conflict lies not only with individual politicians but also with Western institutions more broadly.
“The US administration confirms that the Russia-Ukraine war could have been avoided. Neither the European Union, nor NATO, nor the Western world of that time was able to prevent it,” he said.
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