Without resolving “Crimea issue,” war will end in frozen conflict, not peace – expert
This was stated by international relations expert and specialist in Ukrainian–Turkish relations Yuliia Biletska, an associate professor at the Department of International Relations of Karabük University, during a panel discussion in Ankara marking the Day of Resistance to the Occupation of Crimea, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“This war will not be truly resolved without resolving the Crimea issue. It is impossible to speak of a ‘stable peace’ without clarifying the status of Crimea. Without untangling the Crimean knot, the war will merely turn into a frozen conflict,” Biletska said.
She emphasized that any agreements with the aggressor reached without Ukraine would only create an illusion of peace, while real peace is possible only by weakening the Kremlin’s belief that it can act with impunity.
“The occupation in 2014 was the first stage of today’s war. At the time, this aggression was not taken seriously enough. There was an assumption that ‘perhaps it would remain limited.’ However, a revisionist power, if not stopped, does not retreat – it grows bolder. And that is exactly what happened. After Crimea came Donbas. After Donbas came the full-scale war,” Biletska recalled.
The expert stressed that unless Russia realizes it cannot achieve its goals through military force, no negotiations will have real meaning. She also warned Türkiye and other countries against indulging Russian propaganda and aggression promoted through Kremlin-backed “non-aggressive” platforms such as sports, culture, and music, as well as against facilitating Russia’s attempts to legitimize the war on various international platforms.
As reported by Ukrinform, another round of talks concluded on Thursday in Geneva. The discussions were held in two formats – separately with the U.S. side and in a trilateral meeting involving the United States and Switzerland. The next round of peace talks is scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi in early March.
