Russia wants to negotiate with US, Kremlin believes it is at war with West, but on Ukrainian territory - analyst 

He expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

"The current Ukrainian government is critically dependent on public opinion. They are guided by public sentiment, and if some confidence in an immediate victory is somewhat undermined in Ukrainian society, and everyone understands that the war is dragging on, there is fatigue, serious dissatisfaction, a public demand is formed: let's finally end it somehow. So the political party, at least the ruling party (I don't mean this negatively), is also trying to communicate and give signals to society that they are also working on this, that they are also holding peace summits, that they are ready for negotiations. There is no longer such a categorical position as there was last autumn, for example," explained Horbach.

According to him, there is a problem with public communications and statements made by politicians, because they are heard by voters and are evaluated and perceived accordingly. This is an attempt to maintain credibility and gain support.

"Of course, somewhere behind the screen, behind the scenes, consultations, negotiations, exchanges of views - all this is happening. And we can read this from the events, if we do not take into account some general, beautiful phrases that are clearly said in public, but read the facts, events and steps. At the Swiss summit, both President Zelenskyy and the head of his office, Yermak, told us in no uncertain terms that there would be another summit by the end of the year, and they wanted to hold it, and it should already record the end of the war. This is all what everyone would like to hear, good news, but I am actually critically assessing it here," the political analyst said.

The expert on Ukraine's foreign and domestic policy believes that the Russians are not interested in negotiating with Ukraine. They started the war not against Ukraine, but against the collective West, announcing an ultimatum to the United States and NATO on December 15, 2022. Russia is at war with the West on the territory of Ukraine, without recognizing Ukraine's sovereignty. 

"If Ukraine is a subject of international law, then Russia is a criminal. They want to talk to the US. Putin will wait until America has a situation where it wants to talk to Putin. The situation may develop or change after the presidential election in the United States or a little later, after the new inauguration, or after some other events, perhaps unexpected for us or for Americans, but which may be provoked and planned by Russian special services in the United States or in some other territory. Then they can talk comprehensively about many, many things, as the Russians would like: the division of the world, Yalta, the second edition of the Yalta Treaty, the zone of interests," he stressed.

"I'm not saying that the United States will agree to this, but they should proceed from an understanding of what kind of negotiations Vladimir Putin wants, not with Ukraine, not with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, not with Andriy Yermak. They can maintain some kind of appearance. If the whole world is considered the public, then all the actors are trying to give the impression that they are for peace, that they are adequate, constructive, against escalation, that they are ready for negotiations. The Ukrainian side shows this, and the Russian side pretends to show it. It's a pretend position."

• The idea of inviting Russia to the negotiating table is misleading. This can only happen if Putin's Russia is completely defeated. And the words "peace talks" are something that Western countries should refrain from for the time being, said Nicolas Tenzer, President of the Centre for the Study and Research of Political Decisions (France), during a special event of the Kyiv Security Forum, founded by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation.