No to Capitulation: Paris 2019

In the autumn of 2019 — which may be remembered or unnoticed by many people — Moscow, London, Paris, Berlin, and Washington were all ranged against Ukraine. They were colluding to pressure Ukraine into accepting what was named for the current president of Germany, the Steinmeier solution. Under the Steinmeier solution, Ukraine would agree to allow Russia to hold elections in Russia-occupied Luhansk — where I worked between 2015 and 2018 — and Russia-occupied Donetsk, before Russia gave Ukraine back control of its borders. Essentially, this was the international community colluding with Moscow to get Ukraine to accept the occupation, the brutal genocidal occupation and continued brainwashing of Ukrainians inside Russia-occupied Luhansk and Donetsk, by allowing them to hold elections.

Source: Hot-take: Ukraine’s delegation to Saudi Arabia Peace talks (Substack, March 2025)

The Steinmeier Formula was the Peace archetype rendered into policy. Under the guise of a “peace process,” the entire international community — including Ukraine’s supposed allies — colluded to pressure Ukraine into legitimising its own occupation. Ukraine would “allow” Russia to hold elections in occupied territories before Russia returned control of the borders. The author and a colleague calculated what this would actually require: 1.5 billion euros, armoured vehicles at every polling place, and the return of 1.5 million displaced Ukrainians. It was a non-starter — but it was dressed in the language of “peace.”

This No to Capitulation movement — I went to many of the demonstrations across Ukraine — involved thousands of people saying: we will not accept the Steinmeier solution, we will not allow Russia to hold elections in Russia-occupied Ukraine.

Source: Hot-take: Ukraine’s delegation to Saudi Arabia Peace talks (Substack, March 2025)

Ukrainians saw through the archetype. Where the international community heard “peace process,” Ukrainians heard “capitulation.” The Ni Kapituliatsiyi (No to Capitulation) movement erupted across the country — thousands in the streets rejecting the Steinmeier Formula and the Peace archetype that powered it.

Then came the Paris meeting in December 2019. President Zelenskyy — then perceived by many as a mere comedian, not yet understood as a great artist and patriot — met Putin under pressure from Macron and Merkel. At the press conference, when Putin claimed Ukraine would allow Russia to hold elections, Zelenskyy laughed. Putin looked embarrassed. He has refused to meet Zelenskyy since.

This moment — December 2019 — marked the beginning of a reversal in fortune between The Comedian and Duncey Putin that has been in train ever since. Ukraine’s refusal to submit to the Peace archetype was the turning point.

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