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This is an overview of the CURD Plan. The CURD Plan stands for the Crimea-Ukraine-Russia-Donbas peace plan, with "Donbas" representing all separatist-occupied and Russia-annexed territories. For the details of the Plan, please go to the Book section.

The goal of the CURD Plan is to end the Russo-Ukrainian War in a way that allows both sides to declare their own victory. From this goal, the Plan states two Propositions. From the Propositions, the Plan lists 17 Points — some with their own subordinate Clauses.

PROPOSITIONS

Proposition 1:

Ukraine will regain the sovereignty of Crimea and willingly sell it to Russia. Russia will recognize the Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea and will legally purchase it from Ukraine.

Proposition 2:

On the other occupied territories, Ukraine will regain sovereignty of the disputed land, and Russia will retain sovereignty over the separatist people. The separatists will be offered Russian citizenship and can choose to emigrate to Russia or remain in Ukraine under a special status called native residency that will be codified in the Ukrainian legal system.

POINTS and CLAUSES

Point 1: The Selling Of Crimea

Ukraine shall willingly sell the Crimean Peninsula to Russia. There is no sale price. The price of Crimea will be the Ukrainian demand at the concessional points. Point 12 introduces an exception—a small part of Crimea that Ukraine will retain.

Point 2: The Purchase Of Crimea

Russia shall legally purchase the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. There is no sale price. The price of Crimea will be Russia's acceptance of negotiating concessional points in favor of Ukraine. Point 12 introduces an exception—a small part of Crimea that Russia will recognize as Ukraine's sovereignty.

Point 3: The Sovereignty Of Occupied Territories

Russia shall return all remaining occupied territories to Ukraine, including the ones it has declared annexed, and recognize Ukrainian sovereignty over them. In return, Russia will have all its sanctions against it dropped, and it will be invited back to all diplomatic, economic, and military forums commensurable to its regained stature as a nexus of power.

Point 4: The Native Residency In Returned Territories

Ukraine shall offer native residency to separatists who choose to remain in the returned territories. Native residency is a novel concept that allows separatists with Russian citizenship to live in the returned territories with all the local rights of Ukrainian citizens but none of their national rights. Point 8 will present the rights of native residents.

Point 5: The Conjoint Ceasefire

Ukraine and Russia shall cease military hostilities in conjunction with the restoration of Ukrainian civilian administration in the occupied territories while the negotiations take place.

The two armies will stand in place, holding off any offensive actions, including reconnaissance forays and artillery shelling, to give room for the peace negotiations. While the negotiations progress, Ukrainian administrators, social workers, and police officers with personal small arms will be allowed to cross the lines of conflict, take back the governmental buildings, and work with the existing separatist administration to start restoring civilian services and reestablishing local civil security based on Ukrainian laws. They will also resume the full administration of nuclear facilities in the occupied territories. This Russian concession will assuage the Ukrainian suspicion that Russia may use peace negotiations as a delay tactic; instead, Ukraine will be able to use the negotiation period as a confidence-building head start in re-integrating the occupied territories.

Point 6: The Trials Of War Criminals

Russia and Ukraine shall submit to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation, prosecution, and judgment of war criminal cases but retain the sentencing stage to each jurisdiction.

Clause 6-1: Agreement On Using The ICC

Although neither Ukraine nor Russia is a member of the ICC, both shall agree to use the ICC for the preliminary examinations, investigations, trials, and appeals stages.

Clause 6-2: Abrogation Of National War Criminal Laws

By accepting the ICC jurisdiction, Ukraine and Russia shall abrogate all their current war criminal laws against the other party in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict since 2014, which includes the 2014 Crimean takeover, the 2014-2022 war in Donbas, and the 2022-to-present Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Clause 6-3: Separate Submissions Of War Criminal Lists

Ukraine and Russia shall submit to the ICC their list of war criminals, with four exceptions - one fixed and three optional.

The fixed exception is the head of the other state. Ukraine cannot include the Kremlin leader in its list of war criminals, and Russia cannot include the Ukrainian head in its list. Each state then declares three individuals of its choice to be also exempt. The purpose of the exemptions is to cover the individuals deemed essential for the peace negotiation.

Clause 6-4: Statute Of Limitations

Ukraine and Russia shall have a fixed period to submit their list of war criminals. After this deadline, any individual with suspicion of war crimes but not on a list will be deemed innocent by all parties involved.

Clause 6-5: State-Party Funding For Submitted Cases

For each submitted case, the cost for the ICC to conduct examination, investigation, and trial shall be borne by the state party that submits the case.

Clause 6-6: Free From Arrest During The ICC Process

During the ICC process, Ukraine and Russia shall free any currently arrested individual on their lists, resist arresting any individual on their lists, and allow such individuals free movement to emigrate.

Clause 6-7: State-Party Funded Appeals

If a state party does not agree with an ICC verdict, it can initiate the appeals process with the ICC. The appealing state party shall bear the cost of the appeals.

Clause 6-8: Double Jeopardy

After the ICC issues a verdict that has gone through an optional appeal, Ukraine and Russia shall abide by the final decision. Neither state party shall be allowed to bring a losing case to its national or another international legal venue for retrial.

Clause 6-9: State-Party Sentencing

If Ukraine and Russia receive a guilty verdict from the ICC, it will be up to these two countries to conduct the sentencing stage separately using their national legal systems.

Clause 6-10: International Recognition Of the Sentences

For each guilty verdict by the ICC, there will be two sentences, one by Ukraine and the other by Russia. A third-party country can choose which sentence to apply to a war criminal if they ever set foot in an area under that country's jurisdiction.

Point 7: The Release Of Prisoners

Russia and Ukraine shall release all military and civilian prisoners and facilitate their return to their country of origin.

Clause 7-1: The Release of Military Prisoners

The term "military prisoners" denotes anybody caught fighting, bearing weapons, or intending to harm. Military prisoners include soldiers in the official armies of both sides but also irregulars such as insurgents, partisans, guerillas without insignias, paramilitary personnel, and armed civilians.

Clause 7-2: The Release of Civilian Prisoners

Ukraine shall release all civilians from the re-captured separatist regions due to their Russian sympathizing. Russia shall release all Ukrainian civilians in the occupied territories they have imprisoned due to their suspected Ukrainian sympathizing.

Clause 7-3: The Return Of The Dead

Remains of soldiers and civilians shall be repatriated to their home countries.

Clause 7-4: The Release Of Foreign Prisoners

Ukraine and Russia shall agree to release all military foreigners caught on the battlefields and pledge to expedite the release of foreign civilians detained as a consequence of the war.

Point 8: The Return Of The Displaced

Russia and Ukraine shall facilitate the return to Ukraine of the displaced (such as abductees, deportees, evacuees, refugees, exiles, transferees, and others) who had been moved out either by will, necessity, or force from the occupied Ukrainian territories since 2014. Point 8 also covers the Crimean Peninsula: The displaced Ukrainians wishing to return to the peninsula will be additionally covered by Point 10.

Point 9: The Rights Of Native Residents in Ukraine

The following clauses codify native residency under Ukrainian laws:

Clause 9-1: Regional Availability

Native residency is only available in the four oblasts: Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia. These oblasts, which Russia has occupied, declared annexed, and returned to Ukraine's sovereignty per Point 3, will be referred to as the native residency territories.

Clause 9-2: Individual Eligibility

Ukraine shall grant native residency to all current and former citizens of Ukraine who chose to reside in the native residency territories during the transitional period, even if they have become citizens of Russia.

Clause 9-3: Individual Non-Eligibility

Russian citizens of Ukrainian descent who move to another part of Ukraine not listed as a native residency territory or move to a native residency territory after the transitional period will not be granted native residency. They will be treated as Russian foreigners residing in Ukraine; some may later become permanent residents but never native residents.

Clause 9-4: Loss Of Native Residency Due To Non-Residency

Native residents who have not lived in the native residency territories for a number of days in a year shall lose their native residency unless they have successfully applied for permission from the local government.

Clause 9-5: Citizenship Conversion

Once a native resident has converted to Ukrainian citizenship, he or she shall forever lose the native residency since citizenship takes precedence.

Clause 9-6: Native Residency Inheritance

A child born in Ukraine to a parent (either mother or father) with native residency can inherit the native residency status (along with Russian citizenship) upon the parent's decision. If this inheritance is chosen, the child can only change their status to Ukrainian citizenship once they achieve adulthood unless the parent converts themselves to Ukrainian citizenship. If the parent forgoes native residency for their child at birth, the child will become a Ukrainian citizen without recourse to native residency later in life.

Clause 9-7: Ukrainian Local Rights

A native resident is a Russian citizen who lives in the native residency territories and has the full local rights and responsibilities of a Ukrainian citizen. Ukrainian laws protect native residents from discrimination, disenfranchisement, and all forms of harmful treatment due to their Russian citizenship unless those measures also apply to Ukrainian citizens. At the local level, Ukraine treats native residents like any other Ukrainian citizens.

Clause 9-8: Ukrainian National Rights

Native residents have the same rights as permanent residents at the national level, with additional rights to be granted by specific Ukrainian laws.

Clause 9-9: Russian Expatriate Benefits

Since native residents in Ukraine are Russian citizens, the Russian government shall be permitted to grant benefits specifically designed for them.

Clause 9-10: Loss Of Native Residency Due To Unwelcome Behaviors

Native residents can lose their native residency due to actions that harm Ukrainian national security (such as spying for a foreign country, promoting secessions, or conducting any acts that debase Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity) or that severely harm the Ukrainian social fabric (such as committing crimes). Such native residents may be subject to imprisonment and, upon release, deportation to Russia, which effectively terminates their native residency.

Clause 9-11: Protection Of Native Residents From Unwelcome Behaviors

Ukraine shall have statutes to protect native residents and their families from any harassment due to their status of being Russian citizens living in Ukraine or past separatist activities during the war.

Point 10: The Russian Native Residency in Crimea

Russia shall offer a comparable native residency program to Ukrainians who have lived in the Crimean Peninsula before the 2014 occupation and have remained in the peninsula under the occupying Russian administration or, as exiles, would like to return to their old homes.

Point 11: The Restoration Of Ukrainian-Crimean Economic Ties

Ukraine and Russia shall restore the essential economic ties between the Ukrainian mainland and the Russian Crimean Peninsula.

Clause 11-1: Water Restoration

Ukraine and Russia shall cooperate to repair the Dnieper dam and re-open the North Crimean Canal.

Clause 11-2: Energy And Import Restoration

Ukraine and Russia shall cooperate to restore the Ukrainian delivery of electricity and other types of energy to Crimea and facilitate the exports and imports of goods between Ukraine and Crimea.

Clause 11-3: Land Corridor to Crimea

Ukraine shall open a land corridor on mainland Ukraine for civilian traffic and travel between mainland Russia and the Crimean Peninsula.

Clause 11-4: Land, Sea, And Air Access Restoration

Ukraine and Russia shall open all land, sea, and air civilian access to the Crimean peninsula from mainland Ukraine and vice versa, including flyovers of the Ukrainian mainland by civilian Russian aircraft on their way to Crimea and reverse.

Point 12: The Tuzla Island Outpost Exception

Russia shall return a patch of land to Ukraine on the tip of Tuzla Island in the Kerch Strait and recognize Ukrainian sovereignty on any outpost and attached pier that Ukraine may maintain on this patch of land. This point is to prevent the Kerch Strait from being listed as an internal water body of Russia and to facilitate Ukrainian maritime transit through the Kerch Strait between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

Point 13: The Joint Demining Corp

Russia shall volunteer a contingent of army sappers and demining-trained soldiers, and Ukraine shall approve their stay in the native residency territories to form a Joint Demining Corp with their Ukrainian counterparts.

Point 14: The Pipeline Concessions

Russia shall agree to assist Ukraine in fixing the Ukrainian pipelines and use such pipelines to deliver fossil products to Europe and Ukraine on terms favorable to Ukraine.

Clause 14-1: The Revitalization Concession

Russia shall agree to pay in full for the restoration of any Ukrainian pipeline segments within the native residency territories. Outside of these territories, Russia shall assist Ukraine in the restoration.

Clause 14-2: The European Transit Concession

Russia shall use the Ukrainian pipelines for a guaranteed annual volume for a negotiated number of years with transmission fees on terms favorable to Ukraine.

Clause 14-3: The Ukrainian Use Concession

Russia shall supply oil and gas at no cost for Ukrainian needs in the native residency territories and deliver at cost for the rest of the country for a contracted number of years. In return, Ukraine shall re-open its energy industry to Russian companies.

Point 15: The Debt Concessions

Russia shall forgive all past debts taken by Ukraine and assume new Ukrainian debts to help its post-war reconstruction. In return, Ukraine shall formally renounce any international and domestic path for war reparations.

Clause 15-1: The Cancellation Of Existing Ukrainian Debts

Russia shall forgive all Ukrainian debts, including the $3 billion 2013 Eurobonds under contest.

Clause 15-2: The Purchase Of New Ukrainian Debts

Russia shall purchase new Ukrainian bonds issued with very low or no interest and in an amount close to Russia's sovereign assets frozen in Western institutions. In return, Ukraine shall drop its compensation claims in all forums, domestic or international.

Point 16: The Asset Concessions

Assets that reside in one country, Ukraine or Russia, but belong to the other country, be it to its citizens, organizations, companies, or government, shall be categorized as Confiscated Assets or Confiscable Assets and handled via the corresponding Clauses of Point 16.

Clause 16-1: The Restitution Of Confiscated Assets

Ukraine and Russia shall return to their proper pre-war owners the businesses and properties confiscated during the war; if a clean return cannot be made or is desired, fair compensation shall substitute.

Clause 16-2: The Stipulation Of Confiscable Assets

The confiscable assets are Ukrainian assets in the new Russia (Russia with the purchased Crimea) or Russian assets in the new Ukraine (Ukraine without the sold Crimea) during a negotiated number of years referred to as the reconstruction period. Confiscable assets will be treated like any foreign-owned assets, with one exception: their sale proceeds or operational profits cannot be repatriated to the country of the assets' owners; instead, they must be used in the resident country of the assets. Confiscable assets will be treated like any foreign-owned assets once the transitional reconstruction period ends.

Point 17: The Engaged Neutrality

Ukraine shall re-engage with Russia militarily, economically, and politically. Russia shall accept Ukraine's deepening military, economic, and political engagement with Western countries. The Ukrainian engagements with both Russia and the West will be called "engaged neutrality".

Clause 17-1: The Military Engaged Neutrality

Ukraine shall approach the Russian-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the U.S.-dominated NATO not for membership but for partnership. The "engaged" part of the military neutrality doctrine requires Ukraine to actively participate in the CSTO while maintaining its involvement with NATO. If the CSTO and NATO sides are in direct conflict, Ukraine shall maintain neutrality.

Clause 17-2: The Economic Engaged Neutrality

Ukraine shall reestablish all economic ties with Russia and the Russia-dominated Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Russia shall accept Ukrainian economic ties with the U.S., the European Union, and the rest of the Western world. If the two economic blocs are in direct conflict, Ukraine shall maintain neutrality.

Clause 17-2: The Political Engaged Neutrality

In foreign affairs, Ukraine shall resume full diplomacy with Russia, and Russia shall not interfere with Ukraine maintaining diplomatic relationships with any country as it sees fit. If, on the world stage, the Russian sphere of influence conflicts with the Western side, Ukraine will lean towards the side that adheres better to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) principle. If the NAM principle is either fully adhered to by both sides or fully not adhered to by neither side, Ukraine shall maintain neutrality.

On domestic affairs, Ukraine shall allow pro-Russian parties to return to the domestic political scene with all the rights and responsibilities of a Ukrainian political party, and Russia shall not interfere with Ukraine's internal political affairs. Ukraine shall pass laws that maintain neutrality between the pro-Russian and pro-Western tendencies. For example, Ukraine will rescind laws that dictate ascension to the EU and NATO.

With the CURD Plan, Ukraine can declare victory by achieving its most important objectives: sovereignty, territory integrity, and a path to prosperity; and Russia can declare its own victory with the legal ownership of Crimea, the end of sanctions, and regained prominence in world affairs.

The CURD Plan could be unfolded as follows:

Ukraine and Russia agree on the principle of the two Propositions.
Ukraine and Russia declare a ceasefire based on Point 5 (The Conjoint Ceasefire).
Ukraine and Russia convene a peace conference to negotiate the remaining Points and Clauses.
Ukraine and Russia sign a peace agreement, resulting in Crimea legally belonged to Russia, and Russia returning the other occupied territories to Ukraine.

The CURD Book describes the Propositions, Points, and Clauses in detail.

PLAN - The CURD Plan Overview