This Sunday, December 21st, Russia ruled out for now the possibility of starting a new format of peace talks for Ukraine that would include direct negotiations with Kiev and European representatives.
“No one has seriously talked about this initiative yet and, as far as I know, it is not being worked on,” said Kremlin diplomatic advisor (presidency), Yuri Ushakov, quoted by Russian news agencies Interfax and TASS.
Ushakov was commenting on statements made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said on Saturday that Washington proposed holding joint peace negotiations with representatives of Ukraine and Russia and, possibly, European countries.
To reinforce the idea, Ushakov said that Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev, who is in the United States, will only speak to the Americans.
“He will talk to our partners, with whom we have met repeatedly, our North American partners. I don’t know if there are Ukrainians there,” he said, according to Spanish agencies Europa Press and EFE.
Ushakov said that Dmitriev will inform Moscow about the consultations held in the North American city of Miami with representatives of the White House (presidency), Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Dmitriev “will return to Moscow, present his report and we will discuss what to do next”, he added, also quoted by the France-Presse (AFP) news agency.
An all-party roundtable would be the first in six months, but Zelensky was skeptical about the possible results.
“I’m not sure anything new will emerge,” Zelensky told journalists on Saturday, as previous meetings in Türkiye over the summer resulted only in prisoner exchanges.
Before meeting with Dmitriev, President Donald Trump’s representatives spoke on Friday, also in Miami, with the main Ukrainian negotiator, Rustem Umerov, and with representatives from Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
As for the changes that the Europeans intend to introduce into Trump’s peace plan, Ushakov considered that they do not contribute to the success of the negotiations.
“This is not a prediction. I am sure that the proposals that the Europeans and the Ukrainians have made or are trying to make certainly do not improve the document nor increase the possibility of achieving lasting peace,” he said.
Moscow supported Trump’s initial plan by accommodating his main demands, including the cession of territories by Kiev, the refusal to join NATO and the presence of an international force, and the reduction of Ukrainian military personnel.
The plan was however changed after talks with the Ukrainians and Europeans, with the current terms being unknown.
Dmitriev stated on Saturday that the negotiations in Miami were being constructive and that they would also continue this Sunday, the 21st.
Umerov said earlier that talks with his US counterparts ended with a commitment to advance efforts to reach a definitive resolution of the war started by Russia in February 2022.