Kissinger urges West to make peace with Russia

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is calling on Kiev to concede territory to Moscow, while warning the West not to pursue a humiliating defeat of Russia.

Kissinger, a longtime advocate of realpolitik on many geopolitical issues including the Cyprus problem, urged Western forces not to attempt a total defeat of Russia in Ukraine.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Monday, America’s most famous oldest diplomat warned that the pursuit of a military escalation in Ukraine would destabilize Europe and fracture international relationships.

“Negotiations need to begin in the next two months before it creates upheavals and tensions that will not be easily overcome. Ideally, the dividing line should be a return to the status quo ante,” Kissinger said.

Kissinger sees Cyprus and Ukraine as "bridges"

Half a century ago, Kissinger’s diplomacy reached all the way to Cyprus when he made attempts to help Greece and Turkey, as well as the two divided Cypriot communities on the island, maintain balance and overcome conflict by reaching mutually acceptable positions.

The US diplomat, who turns 99 on Friday, also wrote back in 2014 that Ukraine should also “function as a bridge” between East and West.

“If Ukraine is to survive and thrive, it must not be either side’s outpost against the other,” Kissinger wrote, while calling on the West to “understand that, to Russia, Ukraine can never be just a foreign country.”

On Monday Kissinger told his audience in Switzerland that “pursuing the war beyond that point would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia itself."