Supervised work: why did the Russian Federation propose to introduce temporary management in Ukraine

The introduction of interim administration in Ukraine under the auspices of the United Nations may be a key moment for resolving the crisis. The initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin will allow presidential elections to be held in the neighboring country, after which Moscow and Kiev could sign a peace agreement. Now the authorities in Ukraine are illegitimate from the point of view of its own constitution, the Kremlin warns, which makes it de facto impossible to conclude any agreements between the parties to the conflict. The State Duma believes that the implementation of the idea will require the introduction of UN peacekeepers, but the contingent should include only representatives of impartial states. What the Russian leader said about Donald Trump's sincerity and how HIS work is going is in the Izvestia article.

Elections in Ukraine and conflict resolution

Russian President Vladimir Putin, while in Murmansk, made several important statements on Ukraine. In particular, he proposed to introduce temporary governance there under the auspices of the United Nations and a number of countries in order to hold elections.

"There is such a practice, and, in principle, of course, it would be possible, under the auspices of the United Nations, with the United States, with European countries, of course, with our partners and friends, to discuss the possibility of introducing interim administration in Ukraine," the president said. — In order to hold democratic elections there, in order to bring to power a government that is capable and enjoys the confidence of the people. And then start negotiations on a peace treaty with them, sign legitimate documents that will be recognized worldwide and will be reliable and stable.

The idea of introducing external governance in Ukraine was not discussed during telephone contacts between the leaders of the Russian Federation and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. One way or another, the Ukrainian authorities are now illegal in accordance with the Ukrainian constitution, which makes agreements with them futile, the Russian leader drew attention.

— The presidential elections were not held there. And the constitution is designed so that everyone is appointed by the president, including regional authorities," Putin explained. — If he himself is illegitimate, then everyone else is too.

Vladimir Zelensky's powers officially expired after May 20, 2024. Then, on March 31, presidential elections were supposed to be held in Ukraine, but they were not scheduled due to martial law. In the summer of 2023, the elections to the Verkhovna Rada, scheduled for October, were also canceled. Russian representatives have repeatedly stated that Zelensky's legitimacy is over, and it is important to understand who to deal with in Kiev in order to sign legally binding documents.

Now, according to the Russian leader, the power in Ukraine is actually in the hands of neo-Nazis.

— They are, these units, including the Azov (banned in the Russian Federation. — Ed.), they plan to strengthen and create divisions from them too. This means that such people are acquiring more and more weapons, more and more supporters, and putting others under arms, imposing their views on them," Putin said.

Washington, with which Moscow is currently negotiating a settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, reacted to Vladimir Putin's proposal regarding external governance. A representative of the US National Security Council (not named) told Reuters that "the system of government in Ukraine is determined by the people and the constitution of the country." What this means is not entirely clear. However, it is worth noting that the Russian Federation is emphasizing the importance of Kiev adhering to the constitution, which does not give the president the right to extend his powers without elections.

Earlier, the United States, including President Donald Trump, called for elections in Ukraine. Moreover, the media, citing the US President's special envoy for the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, Keith Kellogg, wrote that Washington would like Kiev to hold presidential and parliamentary elections by the end of 2025. In March, the special representative of the President of the United States, Stephen Witkoff, said that the Ukrainian authorities allegedly agreed to hold elections. Zelensky said on February 23 that he was ready to resign from his post if it meant peace for Ukraine. At the same time, he immediately began offering to exchange his departure for his country's membership in NATO. And later he stressed that new presidential elections in Ukraine can take place only after martial law is lifted in the country.

In order to arrange a vote in Ukraine, external control by a neutral party is necessary, Alexey Chepa, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, tells Izvestia.

— Because if Zelensky does this, it will either be sabotage or outright falsification of these elections. Naturally, we are well aware that this cannot take place under the control of, let's say, the participants in this conflict, who are considered to be almost all European countries. That's out of the question. That leaves, perhaps, Hungary. Therefore, the idea of holding them under the auspices of the United Nations was given as an example, it is possible," he says.

In order to carry out such management, it may be necessary to introduce peacekeeping forces that would monitor the observance of the truce and the established agreements. For example, the external administration in East Timor operated from 1999 to 2002. At that time, peacekeepers were brought into the country, and the UN interim administration performed the function of government. In 2022, after the elections in the country and the completion of work on the draft constitution, the interim administration was dissolved. It is worth noting that there have also been precedents for external governance under the auspices of the United Nations in New Guinea and parts of the former Yugoslavia.

Russia has previously opposed sending units of Western countries to Ukraine, which have been actively pumping weapons into Kiev over the past few years. According to the UN principles, United Nations peacekeepers should be impartial towards the parties to the conflict, but not neutral in fulfilling their mandate.

— There are at least 150 countries in the world and in addition to European ones that could well act as peacekeepers, including such influential ones as China, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. The main thing is to get the appropriate United Nations mandate for this," Alexey Zhuravlev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense, explained to Izvestia.

How is the situation on the battlefield

Vladimir Putin believes that Donald Trump sincerely wants the conflict in Ukraine to end. According to the Russian president, the military conflict is "complex" and it requires "careful discussion and approach."

— In general, we welcome the resolution of any conflicts, including this one, by peaceful means. Just not at our expense," Putin said. — We are in favor of resolving all these issues by peaceful means. But while eliminating the root causes that led to today's situation.

After the new administration of Donald Trump came to power, Moscow and Washington resumed dialogue on a wide range of issues. On February 12, the presidents of the two countries had their first telephone conversation since 2022. After that, the parties held a series of consultations in Saudi Arabia: on February 18, they agreed to restore the staffing levels of diplomatic staff at the embassies of both countries. At the end of February, during the next round of negotiations in Istanbul, the delegations discussed the restoration of normal embassy operations. On March 18, the second call between Putin and Trump took place.

On March 24, in Riyadh, the Russian Federation and the United States discussed the Black Sea grain initiative and the continuation of dialogue on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. The parties then stated that they had agreed to ensure the safety of navigation and the non-use of force in the Black Sea. The Russian side was represented by Grigory Karasin, Head of the Federation Council's International Affairs Committee, and Sergey Beseda, Adviser to the FSB Director. However, according to Karasin, negotiations with the United States in Riyadh were not very productive, but "it would be naive to expect breakthroughs."

— The main task that was set before this meeting was the safety of navigation in the Black Sea, the restoration of the opportunity for our fleet to use ports for agricultural exports, the restoration of the SWIFT system for our Rosselkhoznadzor. This set of questions was raised, and the Americans reacted calmly to it," the senator added.

On March 28, Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on the phone. Erdogan expressed support for the Russian-American dialogue and the readiness of the Turkish side to promote the Black Sea deal.

In addition, on March 25, it became known that Russia and the United States agreed to develop measures to implement the agreements reached by the presidents of the two countries to ban attacks on energy facilities of the Russian Federation and Ukraine for a period of 30 days, starting on March 18, 2025. They suggest the possibility of extending and withdrawing from the agreement in case of non-compliance by one of the parties. The list of facilities that the parties to the conflict should not attack includes: oil refineries; oil and gas pipelines and storage facilities, including pumping stations; electricity-generating and transmitting infrastructure, including power plants, substations, transformers and distributors; nuclear power plants; dams of hydroelectric power plants.

Vladimir Putin, however, drew attention to Kiev's incessant provocative attempts to attack Russia's energy infrastructure. On the morning of March 28, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a double strike using HIMARS at the Suja gas measuring station, which was virtually destroyed, the Russian Defense Ministry said. In addition, air defense systems shot down 19 Ukrainian UAVs in the Saratov region, the target of the attack was the infrastructure of an oil refinery; and due to the shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the afternoon of March 27, the facility of the Rosseti Center branch was cut off in the Belgorod region.

"The Russian side reserves the right, in case of non—compliance with the moratorium by the Kiev regime, not to comply with it either," Dmitry Peskov said.

The next round of consultations between Russia and the United States on Ukraine may take place in Riyadh in mid-April, according to media reports. Alexey Zhuravlev believes that the composition of the negotiating delegation from the Russian Federation may remain the same. According to him, Moscow, under any agreements, will proceed from the situation "on the ground." Now "our troops have a strategic initiative along the entire line of contact," Vladimir Putin said in Murmansk. "I was saying just recently: "We'll put the squeeze on them." There is reason to believe that we will finish them off," he stressed. According to him, the LPR has now been liberated by 99%, and the territories of the DPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions — by more than 70%.

The European Union also insists on joining the peace talks. The President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, previously stressed that this was due to the participation of European countries in ensuring security guarantees for Kiev.

— By the way, we are ready to work with Europe, they just behave inconsistently. They are constantly trying to "lead us by the nose", but nothing, we are already used to it. I hope that we will not make any mistakes based on excessive trust in our so—called partners," he said.

So far, it is extremely difficult to find common ground with most European countries. A "coalition of the willing" has been formed in the West, which is promoting the deployment of troops to Ukraine and is trying to strengthen military support for Kiev. The United Kingdom and France are the most active in this area.