US peace deal signals to rogue states they can invade with impunity, warns laureate

Any peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine that includes an amnesty for war crimes could encourage other authoritarian leaders to attack their neighbours, Ukraine's only Nobel peace prize winner has warned.

- Dan Sabbagh

Oleksandra Matviichuk said the leaked 28-point US-Russia plan did not account for "the human dimension" and she supported Volodymyr Zelenskyy's efforts to rewrite it in dialogue with the White House.

"We need a peace, but not a pause that provides Russia a chance to retreat and regroup," the Kyiv-based human rights lawyer said. A durable settlement must include Nato-like guarantees for Ukraine, she added.

Matviichuk is the head of the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, which was jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2022, and she has been influential in arguing that Russia has developed a "genocidal character" because the international community has not restrained it enough.

Comments such as hers reflect widespread sentiment in Ukraine. Even after nearly four years of attritional fighting, with power cuts affecting the country frequently following Russian attacks, there is little appetite to accept territorial concessions, and few Ukrainians believe there can be a permanent end to the war without a security framework.

The human rights lawyer argued that clause 26 of the initial US-Russia proposal was particularly problematic. It stated: "All parties involved in this conflict will receive full amnesty for their actions during the war and agree not to make any claims or consider any complaints in the future."

Matviichuk said: "It would ruin international law and the UN charter [which urges refraining from attacks on neighbours] to create a precedent that would encourage other authoritarian leaders, that you can invade a country, kill people and erase their identity and you will be rewarded with new territories."