British expert advised to start holding talks on Ukraine without Kiev

The initial stages of peace talks on the conflict in Ukraine should be held between Russia and the United States without Kiev's participation. British expert Anatol Lieven, director of the Eurasia program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Government, shared this opinion in his article published in the Foreign Policy magazine on 16 December.

According to the expert, the negotiations should involve three parties: Ukraine, Russia and the USA. However, the initial stages should be held only between Moscow and Washington.

"It goes without saying that some aspects of a possible agreement will require the full consent of Ukraine and that no settlement is possible without this consent," Lieven added.

He singled out among these aspects a ceasefire, the nature and scope of any demilitarized zones and any constitutional amendments guaranteeing the linguistic and cultural rights of Russians and Russian speakers in Ukraine

According to the expert, the question of what security guarantees Kiev will receive from Western countries does not depend on its will. In addition, Kiev's involvement in the early stages of the negotiations may make them impossible,Gazeta.Ruadded.

"Since this process will be so complicated, the sad but inevitable truth may be that if Ukraine takes part in the negotiations from the very beginning, progress in the settlement will become completely impossible," Lieven added.

The political analyst pointed out that any supposed compromise would immediately be put on public display and cause a large number of protests in Europe, Ukraine and the US Congress.

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The day before, on December 14, a member of the Verkhovna Rada, Oleksandr Dubynskyy, said that Ukraine would never be in a strong position in negotiations with Russia. He also noted that this once again emphasizes the possibility of ending the conflict only after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (his term expired on May 20) leaves office.

Before that, on December 9, political scientist Oleksandr Dudchak shared with Izvestia the opinion that Zelensky and the West do not want a full-fledged peace settlement. At the same time, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said that Moscow is always open for negotiations on Ukraine, the Kiev regime and the Western countries that run it are closed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin back in June at a meeting with the leadership of the Russian Foreign Ministry named the conditions for negotiations on Ukraine. Thus, the Ukrainian army should leave the territories of the new regions of the Russian Federation and Kiev needs to give up the idea of integration into NATO.

The last round of negotiations took place in Istanbul on March 29, 2022. They lasted about three hours. Later, Kiev officially refused contacts with Moscow. On October 4 of the same year, the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on the impossibility of holding talks with Putin was put into effect.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which Putin announced on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the background of the aggravated situation in the region.