Press Release, 15.02.2025

The organisers of the International Security Conference 2025, which is currently taking place in Munich, officially invited Grigory Yavlinsky to take part in it. Circumstances did not allow Grigory Yavlinsky to come in person, but he sent the theses of his speech to Christoph Heusgen, the Conference Chairman.

Grigory Yavlinsky called for rewording the key political principle of the Conference to achieving peace through dialogue, and not force. According to Yavlinsky, the meaning of holding the Conference in the current circumstances is the beginning of the development of the Munich Plan, consisting of three underlying recommendations:

1. Ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine with the creation of incentives for both sides to observe the ceasefire, an agreement on the exchange of all prisoners and an initial project of a demilitarised zone with clear borders, given that the front line is at present almost 2,000 kilometres long;
2. Post-war security guarantees for both Ukraine and Russia;
3. New concept and measures to stabilise Russian-Western relations.

“It goes without saying that such a plan would require the elaboration of a whole range of complex fundamental issues on peace and security within Europe and Russia as a whole, and not only Ukraine. It is already clear that the security of Ukraine alone does not guarantee the security of the whole of Europe. Fully-fledged and comprehensive security guarantees will be required for both Ukraine and Russia. At the same time, the scale and nature of understandings on the security guarantees required by Russia and Ukraine may differ materially for objective reasons,” Yavlinsky writes.

According to Yavlinsky, in the search for compromise solutions, it is necessary to discuss the neutral status of Ukraine with the retention of its sovereignty, rejection of the idea of deploying foreign troops and military infrastructure on Ukrainian territory and at the same time, the possibility that Ukraine will become a fully-fledged member of the European Union.

Yavlinsky emphasises that the European Union should work together with the United States, Ukraine, and Russia to agree on a ceasefire, a plan to end the war, and the subsequent peaceful arrangement of the European continent.

“The horrific bloody war now entering its third year between Russia and Ukraine, whose participants are to all intents and purposes European countries and the USA, could become a catalyst for the precipitant escalation of armed conflict in Europe. <…>  Russia started its military operation in February 2022 and assumes its share of responsibility for what happened. History will set the record straight. However, today the key goal here is different – to achieve an immediate ceasefire. We need to find a way out now – we need to find a solution that will bring to an end the loss of lives and the destruction of the future,” the text of Grigory Yavlinsky’s report runs.