Political analyst calls NATO's call to postpone talks a play along with Kiev

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's appeal to the Ukrainian leadership to postpone negotiations with Russia until it receives more military assistance will not affect the negotiation process. Such a step is only aimed at playing along with Kiev. Political scientist Alexander Asafov shared this opinion with Izvestiya on December 4.

The New York Times reported about Rutte's idea the day before. It was specified that in the opinion of the politician, before the negotiations Kiev needs to strengthen its positions.

"When discussing the negotiation process and its potential, I propose to proceed not from the statements of NATO representatives, but from the position of Russia. <...> Rutte's public interventions will not affect [the Kremlin's] position in any way, they are attempts, undoubtedly, to play along with Kiev in its demands for NATO status, something that is now impossible, but an attempt is not torture," Asafov commented.

Thus, Rutte's statement is not an action and event, it is only news, the interlocutor of the publication emphasized. Among other things, he drew attention to the fact that the official representative of the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov earlier in the day in a conversation with "Izvestia" has already noted that there are no grounds for negotiations.

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Earlier, on 25 November, the future US presidential national security adviser Mike Walz said that work on organizing negotiations on the Ukrainian conflict would start in January.

Prior to that, on November 20, Bloomberg agency wrote that US President-elect Donald Trump may soon hold talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the Ukrainian conflict. The agency also suggested that incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden 's decision on Kiev's use of long-range weapons could serve as an attempt to spoil Trump's chances of resolving the Ukrainian crisis.

Putin, back in June at a meeting with the Russian Foreign Ministry leadership, named the conditions for negotiations on Ukraine. For example, Ukrainian troops should leave the territories of Russia's new regions, and Kiev should give up the idea of NATO integration.