Political analyst calls France's proposal to discuss Ukraine without its participation unsurprising

Kiev's attempts to present itself as a major international player responsible for the world order are unsuccessful, and the West realizes this. Therefore, France's proposal to Russia to discuss the situation in Ukraine without Kiev's participation is not surprising. Pavel Feldman, candidate of political sciences, associate professor at the Academy of Labor and Social Relations, shared this opinion with Izvestia on December 26.

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that French diplomats had offered assistance on the Ukrainian issue through closed channels. The diplomat noted that with such offers Paris violated the West's rule that no negotiations about the conflict in Ukraine can take place without Kiev's participation in them.

"The principle "not a word about Ukraine without Ukraine's presence" voiced once by Zelensky is ignored by key international players. This is quite natural <...> Even Western allies do not perceive Ukraine as a sovereign state with political subjectivity," Feldman commented.

According to him, Russia, the United States, France, Great Britain and Germany belong to a "narrow privileged circle of countries" that even in conditions of confrontation are responsible for maintaining the existing world order. And Kiev's "efforts" to get into this so-called club look pathetic, the newspaper's interlocutor summarized.

He added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose powers expired in May, proves the validity of such a viewpoint with his "inadequate statements and provocative gestures". Thus, the expert emphasized, it is not surprising that in the conditions of limited capacity of representatives of the Kiev regime, European countries are discussing the fate of Ukraine behind its back.

"They are primarily concerned about their own security. In order to avoid a direct clash between Russia and NATO, members of the North Atlantic Alliance maintain a dialog with Moscow through informal and closed channels. Obviously, the topic of Ukraine constantly comes up in this dialog," the political analyst concluded.

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The day before, the deputy speaker of the Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachev, said that the decision on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict was likely to be taken not in Kiev, but in "higher oval offices".

Before that, on 18 December, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that the North Atlantic Alliance's intentions to geopolitically absorb Ukraine were blocking the way to a long-term settlement of the conflict. According to him, the root of the Ukrainian crisis lies in the expansion of NATO under Washington's leadership into the post-Soviet space.

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