Moscow is not ready for negotiations with Kyiv

Автор: М.Терлецький
05 September 2022

But I have long known your wolf nature;
That is why my custom is:
It is better not to do the amicable settlement with wolves...

Opinions have recently appeared in the media that Russia is ready for negotiations and is looking for opportunities. Unfortunately, a balanced analysis of statements from the Kremlin shows the fallacy of such an idea.

Any sane person understands that negotiations with an aggressor who has seized part of a foreign territory and caused enormous damage to citizens and the economy of the state can begin only after unconditional consent to the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and only on the subject of compensation for the damage caused. A separate issue should be the question of the demilitarization of Russia or the creation of an unconditionally effective instrument for the security of Ukraine in the future, primarily for peaceful coexistence with a country like Russia.

However, at the beginning of September of this year, Moscow is only ready to accept the surrender of Ukraine.

Putin expressed Russia's position with a statement devoid of specific content: "We do not refuse peace negotiations ..."

This gap in content was constantly filled by Peskov. In early July, the press secretary of the Russian president said that there was no talk of resuming negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Already towards the end of the same month, Dmitry Peskov said that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine were possible, and Moscow never talked about closing this door.

On Wednesday, August 3, Peskov said that Russia was and remains ready to solve the Ukrainian problem (?) through diplomacy on its own terms... Our terms are well known to the Ukrainian side. On September 4, in an interview with Pavel Zarubin, Peskov said that negotiations with Zelensky could only go about fulfilling Moscow’s conditions by Kyiv, the conditions remain the same (he did not specify), the operation is underway, all goals will be achieved.

This rhetoric clearly shows that the Kremlin does not intend to negotiate. He put forward an ultimatum on the surrender of Ukraine and continues to stand his ground.

This was clearly stated on August 4 by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, emphasizing that Russia does not offer dialogue and reconciliation, but an ultimatum that sounds like this: “if you don’t do what we want, we will kill you”