BEIJING, October 13. /TASS/. The future of Ukraine will be decided by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government as Moscow's victory in its special military operation is a foregone conclusion, George Galloway, leader of the Workers Party of Britain, told TASS.
"It will be decided by president Putin and the Russian government, in particular. Because the war (Russia’s special military operation - TASS) is won [by Russia]," he said following a lecture hosted by the Russian Cultural Center in Beijing. "And the question is, now, what terms they will impose on the Ukrainian regime, both in terms of its own dissolution, for the solution there must be cannot possibly have [Vladimir] Zelensky continue in office," he added.
The key to bringing the situation in Ukraine to normal is not holding a presidential election there, the British politician argued. "It's not a new president with cleaner hands <…>. The change that's required is in the nature of any remaining rump Ukrainian state," Galloway explained. "Is that rump state going to be used in the future, in the new generation, perhaps as a knife in the back of Russia, or is it going to be a friendly government towards Russia and absolutely neutral," he wondered.
Ukraine’s new status
According to the politician, this neutrality means that the former Soviet republic cannot be part of NATO, nor should the North Atlantic Alliance be in Ukraine, Galloway continued. "I wouldn't trust the current political class in Ukraine at all. Nor Zelensky, nor any of the pretenders to his throne," he emphasized. "I would like to see Ukraine have the same relationship to Russia as Belarus does. Why can't they all be members of a union state?" he asked rhetorically.
Such a status for Ukraine would guarantee to the Russian side "no recurrence of the circumstances which led to the special military operation," according to Galloway. "Whether that's what happens or not, we cannot have, after all, this blood, all this treasure, all this wreckage of international relationships. People being confiscated, sanctioned, killed even," he added.
The Ukraine problem "has to be resolved once and for all," the leader of the Workers Party of Britain insisted. "The Russian speaking territories, all of them will have to be returned to Russia. Down to the Odessa, includes Transnistria, and whatever is left," he maintained.
As regards a recent statement from US President Donald Trump who announced an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, it will hopefully lead to a "permanent resolution of this conflict," Galloway said. "Too much dislocation and disruption to the international system has already occurred, <…> [and this problem] has to be resolved now, once and for all," he concluded.