Taming the fire: is Kiev ready for direct negotiations with the Russian Federation
Kiev prefers brazen ultimatums to the search for acceptable solutions. This was stated to Izvestia by the head of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, Grigory Karasin. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed on May 15 to resume the negotiation process in Istanbul, which was interrupted by Ukraine in 2022. Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already announced that he is ready to provide a platform for dialogue. However, the Ukrainian authorities, along with a number of EU countries, insist on a 30-day truce, which should be followed by negotiations. At the same time, the European Parliament considers the Russian proposal as a "step in the right direction." Donald Trump also declared his readiness to continue working to achieve peace — Ukraine must immediately agree to negotiations, he said on May 11. The article in Izvestia describes why the Kiev regime resists direct negotiations with Moscow, and what topics a dialogue could begin with.
Russia has offered Ukraine to start direct negotiations
Judging by the first responses to the Russian president's proposal for talks in Turkey, Zelensky prefers not to search for any acceptable solutions, but an impudent ultimatum, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Grigory Karasin told Izvestia.
— If you look at what was stated in Kiev, this is not the preparation of calm business conversations, it is an ultimatum. I think that's the way to treat it. Let's see, there's still time. But this is alarming," the diplomat noted.
There are signals coming from the West again about tougher sanctions, but they are well aware that no isolation of the Russian Federation has worked, Karasin added.
Russia has offered Ukraine to hold direct talks in Istanbul on May 15 without any preconditions. This was stated by Vladimir Putin in his statement to the press.
— I repeat once again: we have repeatedly proposed steps to cease fire. We have never refused to engage in dialogue with the Ukrainian side. Let me remind you once again: we did not interrupt the negotiations in 2022, the Ukrainian side did it. In this regard, despite everything, we suggest that the Kiev authorities resume negotiations, which they interrupted at the end of 2022, and resume direct negotiations. And, I emphasize, without any preconditions," the president said.
The Head of State did not rule out that during these negotiations it would be possible to agree on a new ceasefire. Moreover, a real truce that would be respected not only by Russia, but also by the Ukrainian side, and would be the first step towards a long-term, sustainable peace.
Erdogan has already supported Putin's initiative, expressing readiness to provide an Istanbul platform for negotiations. He expressed the opinion that "a historic turning point has come in the process of resolving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict."
It makes no sense to delve into the details of the negotiations until a reasonable reaction to this proposal is received from the other side, Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry for crimes of the Kiev regime, said in a conversation with Izvestia.
— The President has said everything, the main comments have been made, so everything is formulated quite clearly and clearly. There is no point in detailing anything further and going somewhere else, now a step has been taken on our part," the diplomat said.
Vladimir Putin has made another grandmaster move in the framework of the diplomatic confrontation over the Ukrainian settlement. The proposal to immediately start negotiations in Istanbul without any preconditions knocks the ground out from under the feet of the Kiev regime and its curators who are trying to emasculate the negotiation process, Oleg Karpovich, vice rector of the Diplomatic Academy, told Izvestia.
"It is obvious that the idea of a 30—day truce promoted by Kiev is a ploy that will allow Ukraine to rearm and strengthen its position before a new round of military operations," the expert believes.
Moscow understands that a cease-fire will be possible only in a situation where Kiev agrees to a serious dialogue that takes into account Russian demands. So far, there have been no such attempts from the Ukrainian side. Perhaps the pressure exerted by President Trump on the Zelensky regime will help to move the situation from the dead end, Karpovich summed up.
How Ukraine and the West reacted to the Russian proposal
Ukraine expects Russia to agree to a "full, long-term and reliable" truce from May 12, and then Kiev will be ready for meetings for negotiations with Moscow, Vladimir Zelensky wrote on social networks. Soon, the same theses were repeated by the head of his office, Andrei Ermak. Zelensky himself allegedly intends to travel to Turkey on May 15, he wrote on social networks.
The day before, the EU launched another of its own "initiatives" to resolve the Ukrainian conflict. French President Emmanuel Macron, new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrived in Kiev on May 10, where they met with Zelensky and then spoke by phone with the American president. Following the meeting, the sides called on Moscow to establish a 30-day ceasefire starting on May 12 and threatened sanctions in case of refusal.
The voiced proposal for a 30-day truce is an extremely important position for the EU and Britain. Judging by the pomp with which this news was presented, it is perceived by the elites as a key situational tool of pressure on Moscow, which allows them to continue the traditional line and creates a new media reason to shift responsibility to Moscow. It also gives the Europeans the opportunity to participate at least in some form in the "negotiation" process (more precisely, in its likeness) and even provides some support for these efforts from Trump, Egor Sergeev, a senior researcher at the MGIMO Institute of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Izvestia.
— In many ways, Russia's proposal can be perceived as a step that destroys such expectations of Europeans. Bracketing the truce issues puts Russia's principled negotiating positions back on the table, and the proposal of the Istanbul format of negotiations puts the efforts of the "mediators" out of brackets," the expert noted.
It is clear that the EU and Britain are not too satisfied with this approach from Russia. Given that fundamental contradictions have not been resolved, the most likely option is to maintain the viscous dynamics around the conflict, generously flavored with bellicose and condemnatory statements from European capitals, Sergeev concluded.
At the same time, the West cannot abruptly reject Russian proposals either, in order not to show its belligerent face and withdraw from the negotiation process. Therefore, now the EU is either silent or extremely evasive.
Macron noted that the Russian proposal for negotiations is the first step, but it is not enough. "Negotiations by definition cannot be conducted until an unconditional truce," said the leader of the Fifth Republic. Chancellor Merz also insists on a cease-fire as a condition for starting negotiations.
However, there are other opinions. Direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are the only solution to the conflict that will ensure not just a cease—fire, but peace for a long time, French MEP Thierry Mariani told Izvestia.
— The time has come to do what we did in Helsinki in 1975 — to create a universal agreement on peace and security in Europe. But we need the first steps. And I think Putin's proposal is going in the right direction," the politician said.
Mariani stressed that he understands Russia's concerns about arms supplies to Kiev during the truce, as France and Germany had previously used the Minsk agreements to strengthen Ukraine.
In the United States, the idea of holding direct talks between Moscow and Kiev was treated cautiously. According to Donald Trump, the negotiations in Turkey will "at least" determine whether a deal is possible. Therefore, Ukraine should immediately agree to the proposal for negotiations, the US president said.
There is another position in the American administration: Trump's special representative for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, did not support the idea of the Russian president to hold talks before the cease-fire, calling for a 30-day truce to be declared first.
Over the past few weeks, the United States has declared its readiness both to completely withdraw from the negotiation process and to limit itself to the role of mediator, whose main mission is to start direct negotiations. Both messages are image-rhetorical, but not really political. In practice, America does not plan to completely recuse itself, and statements in this regard are a tool for intensifying the dialogue processes that have intensified since the beginning of the year, Egor Toropov, an American researcher at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, told Izvestia.
What Russia and Ukraine discussed during the last negotiations
Russia's proposal is an attempt to resume the negotiating track that Ukraine has left. The dialogue between Moscow and Kiev has been going on since the very beginning of its work: the first three rounds of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations were held in Belarus, then the parties communicated via video link and in Turkey. In the spring of 2022, Kiev and Moscow agreed on most of the points of the agreement, including Ukraine's non-aligned status and security guarantees. The document was even initialed by the head of the Ukrainian delegation, but then, on the advice of the then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Kiev refused it. And in the fall of 2022, Zelensky signed a decree banning negotiations with the Russian Federation.
Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov clarified that negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul should take place taking into account the real situation and the developments of the 2022 negotiations. He did not name the composition of the delegation that could travel to Turkey from the Russian side.
It should be understood that in Istanbul it is proposed to start negotiations not on the same terms as before. Ukraine will never receive such proposals from Russia, which were dissuaded by the former British prime minister, State Duma deputy, First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Committee Alexei Zhuravlev (Rodina party) told Izvestia.
— The situation at the front has changed dramatically, as well as international support — friendly countries could clearly see everything at the Victory Day Parade, including marching along the cobblestones of Red Square. We are showing our ability to negotiate," the State Duma deputy believes.
If Kiev nevertheless goes to negotiations, they can just begin with an agreement on a ceasefire and control over it, Denis Denisov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, said in an interview with Izvestia.
— It is necessary to describe and create a toolkit, an algorithm for how the parties will adhere to this format.: who will observe this, verify the location of equipment and military contingents, it is necessary to determine the line of contact or the line of demarcation. All this is a rather serious complex aspect and a procedure for more than one day," says the expert.
In parallel, it is necessary to immediately begin to work out aspects related to the political settlement of the conflict and the elimination of its root causes. These reasons include the issue of securing Ukraine's non-aligned status in the constitution and its refusal to join NATO. A full-fledged settlement will be impossible without ending the violation of rights and creating mechanisms to protect the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine.
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