Russia wants to benefit from the west of the West to negotiate in order to force Western politicians to feel the need to make concessions to Moscow in order to lure it at the negotiating table. This is how analysts by the American Institute for Studying War (ISW).
Experts recall that on Friday, December 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation with the Chancellor of Germany Olaf Sholts, he falsely argued that financial and military assistance to Ukraine creates a situation in which Kyiv categorically rejects negotiations. Sholts, in turn, said that any diplomatic decision of the conflict should include the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine.
The conversation with Scholts coincided with the diplomatic initiative of US President Joe Biden, who said on Thursday that he was ready to speak with Putin if he would look for a way to put an end to the war. The representative of the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov heard in Biden’s words a proposal to withdraw troops and rejected him, saying that the “special military operation” would be continued. Even earlier, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the West should show the readiness to discuss the documents proposed by Moscow in December 2021 (about “security guarantees”).
The fact that Putin, as well as Peskov and Lavrov, returned to the topic of negotiations, experts explain the desire to create an idea from the West that Russia needs to be lusting for negotiations.
“The Kremlin is probably intended to create a situation in which the Western authorities will offer pre -trial concessions in the hope of convincing to enter into negotiations, not requiring significant preliminary concessions from Russia in return, – says ISW.” The statements of Putin, Lavrov and Peskov emphasize what There may be some of the desired preventive concessions: reducing financial and military assistance to Ukraine, recognition of Russia’s annexation by Ukrainian territory and restrictions on NATO and West military operations in Europe. “
According to experts, a temporary peace agreement would be beneficial to Moscow in order to pause in hostilities, but Putin does not show much interest in such a cessation of fire. The Kremlin continues to put forward requirements equal to the complete surrender of the West, hinting that Putin is still focused on achieving a military victory. And to obtain preventive concessions, Russia is trying to use a series of blows on Ukrainian infrastructure and the humanitarian situation associated with it, it is noted in the ISW review.