Germany says it is necessary to discuss lifting sanctions on Russia

The lifting of sanctions against Russia and overall strategic stability should be among the topics of negotiations between the West and Russia on Ukraine. This opinion was expressed on February 12 by Wolfgang Ischinger, former chairman of the Munich Security Conference and former German ambassador to the United States.

"The whole security situation in Europe, the lifting of sanctions, nuclear and conventional arms control, and overall strategic stability - all of this will need to be discussed," he said in an article for Politico.

Ischinger added that the West should prepare for a long and incredibly difficult resolution of the situation in Ukraine. In his opinion, the peace process could take months.

In business readiness: Putin assessed the prospects for talks with Trump

Will Russian and US leaders be able to agree on ways to resolve the Ukrainian conflict and other issues?

Earlier, on February 11, US President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News that as a result of close contacts of the White House administration with Moscow and Kiev over the past week, significant progress has been made in the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. In addition, Trump said that Ukraine should guarantee the safety of American funds invested in it because it "could someday become Russia."

On February 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (term of office expired on May 20, 2024) said that he expects the start of negotiations on the peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict with the participation of Moscow, Kiev, Washington and Brussels. In its turn, the Kremlin said that the Russian Federation regarded the Ukrainian leader's words as empty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly reminded that the Russian Federation has never refused from peace talks, but they should be conducted on the basis of the provisions agreed in Istanbul and not on the basis of "ephemeral demands".

The last round of talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul on March 29, 2022. They lasted about three hours. Later, Kiev officially refused contacts with Moscow. On October 4, 2022, Zelensky introduced the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of the country about the impossibility of holding talks with the Russian president.