Russian President Vladimir Putin met for over two hours today with U.S. special envoys Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner, following their two-day session in Abu Dhabi mediating between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations. In the first 30 minutes, the open part of their talks, it was clear that the U.S. team wanted to assure Moscow that the Europeans were on good behavior, that they have finally heard the message about the primary need for a security architecture covering Russia, Ukraine and the rest of Europe; and that it was time to bring the Europeans into the negotiations. It was also clear that Putin called on Washington to end Europe’s geopolitical games and induce Europeans to act as if they wanted a stable, long-term peace—at which point, Russia was happy to sit down at the table with the rest of Europe.
It was a busy morning. Prior to the meeting, Putin was briefed by Vladimir Medinsky, the head of Russia’s negotiating team, and the Witkoff-Kushner team had a preliminary meeting with Putin’s top aide, Yury Ushakov. Ushakov emphasized to the press that Moscow was willing to consider concrete European peace proposals but had never received any. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said, prior to the meeting, that Putin would explain Russia’s position to the US envoys, after which Washington’s task will be to bring its European partners to their senses.
In the open session, Kushner stated Washington’s theme: “We have seen a big change with the Europeans, and we think there is very strong momentum and a desire to engage together. And we are very confident that, if we move to a multilateral format, we will continue to make progress to resolve the issues. And we believe that it will help us end the war. And the final point is that... the Europeans have the desire... for there to be a long peace after. Understanding the long-term security between Russia, Ukraine, and Europe is a conversation that we have started with them, and I think we have made a lot of progress on that together.”
Putin responded with two examples of Europe still pushing for perpetual conflict that Washington had to deal with. Europe had to recognize Russia’s state borders, including the four oblasts that voted to return to the Russian Federation. Europe’s talk of “gray zones”—with each side holding the territory they supposedly hold—was a recipe for continual conflict. Given drone warfare, along with exaggerated claims as to what constitutes holding territory, more warfare was guaranteed.
