ロイターはプーチンの側近でもあるロスネフチ会長のセチンのメモを入手。 2018年11月「独自スクープ! ロシア国営銀行がロスネフチの資金を秘密裏に調達 外国の買い手が難色を示した後に(Exclusive :Russian state bank secretly financed Rosneft sale after foreign buyers balked)」という記事のなかで 2016年末ごろの日本側の経緯を以下のように、レポートしている。
Before the invasion, when they had surrounded Ukraine, it might have been possible [to avoid war]. If [Ukrainian president Volodymyr] Zelensky could have been made to promise that his country will not join NATO, or made to grant a high degree of autonomy to the two enclaves in the east. I understand this would be hard to do—perhaps an American leader could have done it. But of course [Zelensky] would refuse.