Russia delays start of meaningful peace talks with Ukraine — political scientist

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"Even skeptics had expectations, perhaps more optimistic regarding the timeline of how this (negotiations about the war in Ukraine - ed.) might unfold. But now it seems that over the next six months, there are unlikely to be any significant global changes. I would be glad to be wrong, but it appears that Russia is trying to delay even the start of any substantive discussions as much as possible. They have lost their geopolitical position, they have lost significant influence in the Middle East, and they are losing influence in the Caucasus. Georgia currently appears to be a Pyrrhic victory for them, and they may pay a heavy price for their brazen decision to pressure the Georgians into submission. It is still unclear whether they will succeed, but the process is ongoing. Therefore, it is very important for them to secure some kind of victory in Ukraine, to occupy as much territory as possible before they are inevitably forced to sit at the negotiating table," he believes.

Maksym Nesvitailov noted that the newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump is putting too little pressure on Russia in his statements.

"Too little pressure on Russia. Because when the discussion initially began with Donald Trump, it was said that negotiations would start if Ukraine refused; then we (the USA, - ed.) would not provide them with weapons or support. If Russia refused, we would give Ukraine even more weapons and support. There were statements that Trump did not rule out revoking the restriction on striking deep into Russian territory with long-range weapons. There were also remarks that the U.S. might have spent too much money on Ukraine — this could be interpreted as an attempt to push Ukraine to seriously consider negotiations. Where are similar discussions and statements directed at Russia? Where are the statements that Putin is not showing enough commitment, and that I (Trump - ed.) will order an investigation into the feasibility of supplying Tomahawks to Ukraine? It’s not even about taking action yet; it’s about starting to talk about it, at least," the political analyst pointed out.

• On December 22, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he would wait to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to resolve the war in Ukraine.
• Trump called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to consider holding peace talks with Russia and giving up the occupied territories.