John Spencer
What Russia is demanding shows that the narratives about why Russia invaded Ukraine are false. Putin doesn't believe Ukraine as a democratic nation should exist or a prosperous, independent, former Soviet Union nation not under Putin's control should exist. He wants Belarus 2.0
Institute for the Study of War
Nebenzya reiterated Putin's demand that Ukraine must conduct elections before the implementation of any peace agreements, continuing the Kremlin's efforts to falsely portray the current Ukrainian government as illegitimate. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov and Kremlin-affiliated former Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Deputy Viktor Medvedchuk have also recently repeated the Kremlin's false claims that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is "illegitimate" and implicitly that Russia thus is not obligated to honor agreements concluded with the current Ukrainian government.