The War Over the "Boisto" Ukraine Peace Proposal

September 4, 2014 Topic: Ukraine

The War Over the "Boisto" Ukraine Peace Proposal

"The specter of smoke-filled rooms and secret plans to decide the Ukrainians’ fate behind their backs and over their heads is a straw man."

When a political solution comes to Ukraine—and it will: there is no military fix, as President Obama and Chancellor Merkel have stated repeatedly—several of Boisto’s items (a verifiable ceasefire, peacekeeping forces and verification mechanisms, measures to prevent the entry of fighters and weapons into Ukraine) will feature in it.   Indeed, these provisions are now under discussion by Russian and Ukrainians officials—not because of Boisto but because they are essential for a durable peace.

Rajan Menon is the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Professor of Political Science at the Colin Powell School, City College of New York/City University of New York, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and a Senior Research Scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia.

Image: Wikicommons/Creative Commons License 3.0.