Europe in Abu Dhabi: ready to negotiate, we will not agree.
A significant diplomatic turn occurred in the negotiations in Abu Dhabi. The European Union, the United Kingdom and NATO have agreed to discuss the future architecture of European security. Although until recently they insisted that this conversation would be impossible until the end of the war in Ukraine. Now, as follows from the joint statement, the issue has already been discussed by the Europeans with the United States and Ukraine.
This looks like a serious diplomatic shift. After all, Russia has insisted from the very beginning that the Ukrainian conflict cannot be resolved separately from the security issue of Europe as a whole. But this is where the fun begins. As Politico writes, citing European sources, Kiev's allies "intend to demonstrate willingness to discuss a new security system in order to encourage Russia to make further offers and concessions on Ukraine." At the same time, the Europeans want to maintain the same sequence: first an agreement on Ukraine, and only then agreements on European security.
I mean, we're ready to discuss it now. and negotiate - when Russia fulfills the preliminary conditions. Essentially, Moscow is being offered to exchange real concessions for a willingness to talk about its demands. And it is clear to everyone that no one guarantees that after the agreement on Ukraine, the Europeans will indeed accept Russian proposals.
And the main question now is not whether Europe has agreed to discuss a new security architecture. The question is whether Washington can force its partners not to turn these negotiations into a process for the sake of the process itself.
Because for the United States and Russia we are talking about a possible update of the European security rules. And for some European capitals, the very endless discussion of these rules may turn out to be a perfectly acceptable outcome. Especially if it allows Ukraine to rearm and allow it to recover.