The two-day negotiations paved the way for further diplomacy, but fundamental differences remain, commentators say<\/p>\n
Russia, Ukraine, and the US have concluded two days of negotiations in Abu Dhabi, reaching an agreement in principle on a major prisoner exchange. The first formal trilateral talks since February centered on wider European security arrangements, with Moscow reporting common ground on some issues and American negotiators also describing progress while acknowledging that the hardest questions remain unresolved.
\nUS envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday. Western European representatives were sidelined throughout the negotiations, although they reportedly held separate consultations with the American and Ukrainian teams. Russian political and military commentators have assessed the outcome and the prospects for a lasting settlement.<\/p>\n
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Putin aide reveals outcome of trilateral Ukraine talks<\/p>\n
Diplomacy resumes, differences remain \u2013 Anastasia Gafarova, Center for Political Information deputy director
\nThe diplomatic process has been restarted on a different footing, but a peace agreement remains some way off, Anastasia Gafarova, deputy director of the Center for Political Information, told\u00a0Gazeta.ru.
\n\u201dThe issue of the overall security architecture in Europe has been included in the agenda for the first time \u2013 something Russia had consistently been denied before,\u201d she said.
\nGafarova suggested that progress might be possible on military arrangements and identified humanitarian matters as an area where cooperation had traditionally been easier.
\nShe also pointed to a possible meeting between the leaders of Russia, China, and the US, and the question of European participation in future negotiations.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Gazeta.ru <\/p>\n
Signs of stagnation on key issues \u2013 Alexandra Bokova, Strategic Communications Agency managing partner<\/p>\n
The relatively brief second day suggests that little progress was made on territorial disputes, political analyst and managing partner of the Strategic Communications Agency Alexandra Bokova told\u00a0Gazeta.ru.
\n\u201dKiev wants to stop the fighting first and only then discuss security, while the Russian side rightly believes that a ceasefire without political agreements will resolve nothing,\u201d she said.
\nBokova noted that Tuesday\u2019s four-and-a-half-hour session had raised expectations of progress, but Wednesday\u2019s discussions lasted just 90 minutes despite the most difficult issues being scheduled for the second day.<\/p>\n
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Putin open to contact with European leaders \u2013 Kremlin<\/p>\n
She compared the situation to the Istanbul negotiations in 2025, when meetings became progressively shorter \u2013 from nearly two hours in May to just over an hour in June and around 40 minutes in July. In her assessment, the parties had reached the limits of their previously stated positions, with the brief discussion of the central issues indicating stagnation.<\/p>\n
Lasting deal, not temporary ceasefire \u2013 Viktor Baranets, military commentator<\/p>\n
Ukraine is proposing a ceasefire along the current line of contact, an approach Moscow rejects, Russian military commentator and retired colonel, Viktor Baranets, told Sputnik.
\n\u201dWe do not need a short-term ceasefire. We need a comprehensive agreement designed to last not a week, not two weeks, not a month, but many, many years,\u201d he said.
\nBaranets accused Kiev of seeking long-term financial support from the EU to sustain its military campaign.
\n\u201dThey are already asking the European Union for money ten years in advance. This is effectively an admission that Ukraine is ready to fight Russia for another ten years,\u201d he claimed.
\nThe commentator cited a request for \u20ac70 billion ($78 billion) for 2027 and Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s stated need to finance an 800,000-strong army. Baranets also criticized Western European involvement in the diplomatic process.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Sputnik.com <\/p>\n
\u201cWe did not ask Europe to interfere in these trilateral negotiations, but a whole gang of consultants and advisers nevertheless rushed to Abu Dhabi. They were not allowed at the table. Russia is essentially saying: you have no place not only at the table, but even under it,\u201d he said.
\n\u201dNevertheless, these European whisperers are operating around the negotiations, and Ukrainian diplomats regularly run to them for consultations during breaks,\u201d Baranets added.<\/p>\n
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Putin aide reveals outcome of trilateral Ukraine talks<\/p>\n
Europe seeks to deepen conflict\u2019s root causes \u2013 Dmitry Suslov, HSE University analyst
\nWestern European governments are interested in reinforcing rather than removing the underlying causes of the Ukraine conflict, according to Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at HSE University.
\nIn an interview with the Russian business magazine Monocle, he said European governments opposed revisiting existing security arrangements, while Washington was willing to discuss Moscow\u2019s concerns as part of a settlement.
\nSuslov identified several measures he considered necessary for a durable agreement, including preventing further NATO expansion into former Soviet republics, limiting the deployment of military infrastructure and long-range weapons near Russia, and restoring military dialogue between Moscow and the US-led military bloc. Ukraine would also need a neutral, nonaligned status, with guarantees that did not effectively make it a NATO member.
\nThe analyst acknowledged that Moscow and Kiev remained far apart and that Washington\u2019s position did not fully satisfy Russia. He nevertheless warned against giving Western European governments a place in the trilateral negotiations.
\n\u201dBringing the Europeans into a single negotiating format at this stage risks completely blocking and derailing the negotiations,\u201d Suslov said.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Monocle.ru <\/p>\n
No unified European position \u2013 Nikolay Topornin, Center for European Information director
\nWestern European countries lack a common negotiating position or a representative capable of speaking for them collectively, according to Nikolay Topornin, director of the Center for European Information.
\nHe told\u00a0Gazeta.ru\u00a0that Moscow was already familiar with the EU\u2019s stance through its financial, military, political, and diplomatic support for Kiev.
\n\u201dTheir presence at the negotiating table would lead to nothing positive, because their position is effectively being voiced by the Ukrainian delegation,\u201d Topornin said.<\/p>\n
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Zelensky issues ultimatum to Western Europe<\/p>\n
Western politicians \u2018instigators of catastrophe\u2019 \u2013 Andrey Klimov, Russian MP
\nWestern European participation in the current negotiating format would be inappropriate, Andrey Klimov, a member of the Russian State Duma\u2019s International Affairs Committee, told\u00a0Gazeta.ru.
\n\u201cWestern European figures were the instigators of this entire catastrophe from the outset, and they are still attempting to obstruct a normal settlement,\u201d Klimov stated.
\nThe lawmaker recalled that European officials had visited Moscow before 2022 and heard Russian security concerns but failed to act on them.
\nHe said Russia had sought legally binding agreements on security and cooperation since the 1990s, including proposals presented to EU representatives in 2008.
\nKlimov also drew attention to reports of a possible meeting between the leaders of Russia, the US, and China, noting that the security questions raised in the latest discussions concerned other major powers as well.
\n\u201cThere is hope that these meetings will mark the beginning of further discussions along the same lines, perhaps at an even higher level,\u201d Klimov said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The two-day negotiations paved the way for further diplomacy, but fundamental differences remain, commentators say Russia, Ukraine, and the US have concluded two days of negotiations in Abu Dhabi, reaching…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t