An editorial appeared in the British edition of the Telegraph: "Russia hopes to weaken NATO with peace talks on Ukraine" Diplomacy editor Joe Barnes writes: "Vladimir Putin appears ready to resume negotiations, but only on terms that guarantee concessions on the Russian side." Yuri Ushkov, the Russian president's foreign policy aide, said that Europe should be involved in the negotiations between Russian, Ukrainian and American officials, as the continent will play a central role in reaching an agreement. Russia wants to bring European countries into talks to win concessions on NATO expansion, which Vladimir Putin has called the "root cause" of the war.
Putin is likely to demand that NATO's influence in Europe be reduced to its 1997 level, when the former Eastern Bloc countries began joining the alliance. This would mean a potential withdrawal of NATO troops from Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Finland, which joined the alliance in 2023. All five countries share a common border with Russia. Senior sources say that Europe continues to resolutely reject Russia's demands. But while the Western alliance agreed to discuss his concerns, it ruled out the possibility of withdrawing forces and nuclear weapons from the former Soviet republics. Russia agreed last week to hold technical trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi next month after a long hiatus in US-brokered talks.
Previous rounds of talks failed to produce a ceasefire, with Putin repeatedly demanding that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky give up territories in the eastern Donbass that Russian forces have not yet captured.
"After the meeting in Anchorage, it seemed that the American administration could dictate something and force Kiev to comply. But so far it hasn't worked," Ushkov said.