 "US, Russia finish Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia, Trump-Putin meet unlikely next week")
As Russia and the United States held talks on Tuesday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin sought the end of Nato’s promise of membership to Ukraine.
US and Saudi delegations met on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia to decide the future of the war in Ukraine. The delegation-level talks, which come after talks between US President Donald Trump and Putin last week, do not include Ukraine or any other European country.
Even before talks concluded at around 3 pm local time, Russian Foreign Ministry conveyed the essence of the message that negotiators led by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov delivered to the US delegation. In a statement, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Nato needs to formally end the promise it made to Ukraine regarding membership.
The Russian position is in line with that of Trump. Reversing the longstanding US policy on Ukraine, Trump has blamed the commitment to Ukraine's Nato membership for the Russian invasion of Ukraine . He has falsely claimed that previous President Joe Biden promised Nato membership to Ukraine and trigerred the war.
As Europe stands rattled, Russia dictates its terms
Even at the onset, Russia has an upper hand and that’s not just because of its advantageous position in the battlefield.
By bypassing Ukraine and Europe and holding talks directly with Russia, Trump has conveyed that he wants to end the war in Ukraine at the earliest with little regard to the consequences for Ukraine and Europe. This has strengthened Russia’s hand that has already started dictated terms.
The fact that Russia and Trump are on the same page has further rattled Europe. Even though US officials walked back on his comments in less than 24 hours, the speech by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth last week in which he rejected US security guarantees and Nato membership for Ukraine conveyed the message to Europe in no uncertain terms: Russia and Trump are on the same page and Europe and Ukraine are on their own .
In a statement, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zakharova said that merely “refusing to accept Kyiv into Nato now is not enough” and Nato needs to “disavow its Bucharest promises of 2008”. It was a reference to the promise of Nato to Ukraine and Georgia of membership. Russia has long used it as pretext for aggression.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIn 2008, Russia invaded Georgia and occupied 20 per cent of its territory. In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine’s Crimea and annexed it. In 2022, Russia mounted a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has come to control a fifth of the country.
Zakharova further said , “Ukraine’s membership in NATO… is unacceptable for us. This creates serious threats to our security and will lead to catastrophic consequences for all of Europe.”
Talks ‘positive’ but Trump-Putin meeting unlikely next week
In remarks after concluding their talks, the Russian delegation said the conversations were “positive” but said a meeting between Trump and Putin next week is unlikely.
Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev told CNN that the talks were “positive”.
Separately, Russian negotiator Yuri Ushakov said that the conditions for a meeting between Trump and Putin were discussed, but it was unlikely to take place next week, according to the Ifax news agency.
In an indication that Russia is seeking a fundamental realignment with the United States and the West, Kremlin said earlier in the day that a “comprehensive long-term settlement is impossible without a comprehensive consideration of security issues on the continent”.
As Trump and Putin are increasingly on the same page, such a realignment appears to be on cards. Trump and his allies have indicated that they want the war to end irrespective of the consequences for Ukraine or Europe. Even though Trump has not yet floated any plan formally, the ceasefire plans by his allies, including Vice President JD Vance and Ukraine Special Envoy Keith Kellog, essentially serve Russia a victory on a platter by taking Ukraine’s membership of Nato and even European Union (EU) off the table, freezing battlefield at the time of negotiations, and demilitarising Ukraine’s border areas.
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