The head of Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev attended the 2024 UN Chiefs of Police Summit (UNCOPS) held in New York on June 26 - 27, despite being under both US and EU sanctions.
According to the Russian political commentator SibirPost on X/Twitter, Kolokoltsev complained during the meeting of “attempts by a number of Western countries to exclude Russia from Interpol, bypassing the organization’s statutory [membership] documents.”
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Other reports that are now appearing from sources both in Moscow and Kyiv suggest there was another reason why the approval for him to attend was given – he was delivering a new peace plan proposal from President Vladimir Putin via “back channels.”
The visit and the alleged details of the peace plan were revealed on several pro-Russian and Ukrainian social media sites on July 3.
The Russian Telegram channel Gosdumskaya, which claims to have high-level sources in the Kremlin, said: “I will now tell you the real reason for Kolokoltsev’s flight to the US. Kolokoltsev was instructed to convey the ‘Russian peace plan,’ developed personally by Putin, and currently considered by him as the only option for ending the war.”
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The Ukrainian TV journalist Dmitry Gordon said much the same on TikTok, claiming to have received details of the plan from his [unspecified] “intelligence sources.”
What is in “the peace plan?”
There are a number of sections in the plan that are in both the Russian and Ukrainian versions, the reason for some of the differences are not clear but could be the result of having received the information via “word of mouth.”
Crimea – is to remain as part of the Russian Federation although there is one version that suggests Putin is prepared to accept the Peninsula to become a “specially demilitarized administrative territory with dual subordination to Ukraine and the Russian Federation.” Ukraine is also to sign a legally binding international agreement not to block supplies of water to Crimea.
Donbas – Ukraine to completely cede the whole of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions to Russia in return for which:
Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions – Russia would be “prepared to discuss” the possible transfer of control to Ukraine, to include the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and Enerhodar.
Demilitarized zone – this would be a 100 kilometer (62 mile) wide corridor that would follow the line of the Dnipro River and be controlled by Ukraine.
Non-aligned status – Ukraine would give up its NATO aspirations but would be free to join the EU.
Armed Forces – the size of Kyiv’s armed forces would be limited to 150,000 (according to Gosdumskaya) or 350,000 (Gordon’s version).
Kolokoltsev, 63, has been Putin’s Interior Minister in charge of Russia’s civil police for more than a decade and is viewed by many as a key member of the Kremlin’s inner circle and who came through the recent high-level sackings that affected so many of Moscow’s “untouchables.”
It has also been reported that Kolokoltsev’s aircraft, which was one of Russia’s official VIP planes, landed in Washington where it was parked alongside an aircraft being used by former US president Donald Trump.
There has to date been no official comment from the US, Russia or Ukraine over either the alleged back-channel contact or the veracity of any of the “details of the plan.”
While it seems on the face of it to be a “toned down” version of the plan that Moscow announced publicly in May, just prior to the “Global Peace Summit” in Switzerland, most commentators remain convinced that it will still be unacceptable to President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government.
Others suggest that it is yet another disinformation ploy from the Kremlin to say, “we are trying,” but the Ukrainians are just being intransigent.
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