“After the new head of the Office of the President, Kyrylo Budanov, and the head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, David Arakhamia, joined the negotiation process regarding the end of the war, the Kremlin changed its delegation from empty-mouthed diplomats to professional Russian military personnel.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: publication of “Ukrainian Pravda”
Literally: “It is important that after the arrival of Budanov and Arakhamia in the negotiation process, the nature of communication not only with the Americans, but also with Russia changed. Simultaneously with the changes in the Ukrainian delegation, Putin also replaced his negotiators. Now, instead of Medinsky and the rest of the originally Russian diplomats with monologues about Rurik, the negotiations are being conducted by the military.
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“Earlier, our people had to listen to hour-long sermons about who and when conquered whom in the past. Now the military sits and discusses very specific things: withdrawal mechanisms, guarantees, terms, and so on. This is probably the key change that happened with the arrival of Budanov,” one of the interlocutors, who is familiar with the progress of the negotiations, told UP.
Details: As noted in the material, during the time when ex-head of OP Andriy Yermak tried to build a monopoly on negotiations with partners, all contacts actually went through several different channels.
The first – official – was conducted by the then head of the OP in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Others, at least two so-called “back channels”, functioned on the connections between Budanov and the leader of the “Servant of the People” faction, David Arahamiya.
And the signals that reached partners and enemies through these three different channels were just as different: the official channel adhered to the “peace formula” style, while the unofficial channel conveyed a more down-to-earth and realistic assessment of the situation and processes in Ukraine.
After the official channel of negotiations actually came under Budanov’s control, the entire negotiation process from the Ukrainian side began to work in real “one voice” mode.
Especially after Arahamia officially returned to the negotiation group. First, he has a wide range of contacts in the US. Secondly, he worked closely with Budanov back in the Yermak era. Thirdly, and no less important, since the Istanbul negotiations, he has had direct contacts with Russians like Roman Abramovich, says the UP publication.
So Budanov and Zelensky jointly decided to return the head of the first negotiating delegation to the group, which has a chance of becoming the last.
What has changed in the Office of the President with the arrival of Budanov, why such a change of head was necessary for Zelensky and the lieutenant general himself, how this rotation affects the negotiation track, read in the publication “General in the Office. As a scout, a “policeman”, a SBUshnik and a brigade commander manage the OP”