““Now I see the difficulty in the fact that Russia has not been put forward the conditions for ending the war. Putin wants to fight on. He wants to continue trying to take territory from Ukraine””, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
The exhibitor considers the Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s lack of desire to sit down at the negotiating table to be an obstacle that could prevent this.
“Now I see the difficulty in the fact that Russia has not been put forward the conditions for ending the war. Putin wants to fight on. He wants to continue trying to take territory from Ukraine. Wants to change the government in Ukraine. And he still hasn’t given up on anything. So I don’t fully understand what the negotiations will actually be about at this stage,” said Kurt Volker in an interview with RFE/RL.
According to him, everything rests on the change of position of the head of the Kremlin regarding the continuation of the war.
“We need to see that Putin has realized that he is not going to make further progress and that he needs to stop the war at this stage. Then maybe there would be an opportunity to talk about how it is (ceasing the war – ed.) will take place,” the diplomat emphasized.
Walker also explained how Ukraine and Russia could try to reach a compromise given the current distance between their positions. It follows from his words that the best option now is a frozen conflict.
“First of all, a ceasefire in the place where Ukraine admits that it is not going to return the territory by military means. But the occupation of part of Ukraine by Russia is also not recognized. This is becoming a long-term dispute as Ukraine seeks to regain its territory non-military. And within this there would be security guarantees for the unoccupied territory of Ukraine. This should deter Russia from further attacks. This seems to me to be a very reasonable “golden mean”, Volker summed up.
When asked what kind of concessions Kyiv and Moscow might push Trump to make, his former special representative in Ukraine noted that there is no such thing at the moment.
“What we’ve heard from President Trump is not about that – he’s not talking about concessions, deals and bargains. He says, “Stop the war.” That’s what he focuses on. And this can be seen as a concession on the part of Russia, which wants to continue the war,” Volker noted.
US President-elect Donald Trump said again on January 7 that he would very much like to see talks with Russia on ending the war against Ukraine shortly after he returns to the White House, but did not specify when exactly they would take place. Trump emphasized that he wants to see negotiations because “Russia is losing a lot of young people, and so is Ukraine.”
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made it clear that he is ready to refuse the immediate return of non-controlled areas, provided that the territories controlled by Kyiv become part of NATO.
Vladimir Putin, commenting on the possibility of negotiations, mentioned the so-called non-existent “Istanbul agreements”, which, among other things, provide for the neutral status of Ukraine and a significant reduction in the number of its army.
In the West, they believe that the head of the Kremlin is not inclined to compromise, because his army is advancing in the east of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are having difficulties replenishing their ranks, and Ukrainians are exhausted by shelling.
The full version of Kurt Volker’s “pre-inaugural” RFE/RL interview about Trump’s expectations for office and his plans to end Russia’s war against Ukraine will be published on January 14.