Russia Prepares to Negotiate With the US
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen
We discussed how peace can be achieved in future negotiations with Dmitri Polyanskiy, the First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations.
Polyanskiy argued that it would likely be a Russia-US negotiation as this primarily is a conflict between NATO and Russia, and the US is the only real actor within NATO. The Europeans would likely seek to undermine the negotiations, while Zelensky has set unrealistic conditions, has imposed a decree that does not permit him to negotiate, and Russia is concerned about the legitimacy of his authority to make any deals. A stable and durable peace requires a wider solution to the zero-sum European security architecture, and if this cannot be resolved then it will be very difficult to find a solution to the war that enhances the security of all participants in the war.
Events on the battlefield seem likely to overtake the negotiations, which appear to have a fairly leisurely timeline.
Possibly a Russian fait accompli might suit the United States better than a long and painful sequence of negotiations that lead to a compromise outcome that nobody will be happy with and for which the new President will wear the blame and responsibility.