Roving Periscope: On Ukraine, the US-Russia ‘productive’ talks far from a deal—yet
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, it believed the war would be over in “48 hours.” Likewise, Donald Trump, during his presidential campaign in 2024, declare that he will put an end to the Ukraine war in “two days.”
More than three years on—exactly after 1,125 days—the war continues unabated. And the first US-Russia talks on a potential ceasefire in Ukraine may have stalemated after 12-hours of marathon negotiations at a Saudi hotel, which they hoped will continue. Russia merely said the negotiations were “useful, productive, intense.”
No one wants to take the blame that it sabotaged the Riyadh talks about a partial, 30-day truce, which the victim, Ukraine, has already accepted.
It appears that Russia is unlikely to accept the US plan to tap Ukraine’s rare earth resources—as it will be akin to inviting America inside Ukraine!—or surrender the Ukrainian territory it has won during the ongoing war so far. The US is also unlikely to accept all of Russian annexations, lest it damage the NATO itself. Ukraine is, of course, demanding its lost land back and the billions of dollars to rebuild itself.
The latest episode of a likely ceasefire deal is being played out in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, where officials of the US and Russia—not Ukraine!—are trying to thrash out something they could showcase as a trophy back home.
The US-Russia talks began in Riyadh on Sunday and no joint statement has emerged so far. All that the Kremlin said on Tuesday was that the two countries are “studying the outcome of talks on Ukraine!”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the delegations looked into the feasibility of some kind of a deal between Russia and Ukraine covering navigation in the Black Sea among other issues, the media reported.
Russia and the US are analysing the outcome of talks between their officials in Saudi Arabia, the Kremlin said, declining to give details of the discussions which both sides had said would focus on a potential naval ceasefire.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the delegations, which had been looking into the feasibility of some kind of a deal between Russia and Ukraine covering navigation in the Black Sea among other issues, had reported back to their respective capitals.
“You see, we are talking about technical negotiations that go deep into details. Therefore, of course, the content of these negotiations will definitely not be published. This should not be expected,” Peskov said.
“Secondly, I repeat once again, the reports back to the capitals are now being analysed. Only then will it be possible to talk about some understandings.”
There was currently no talk of a three-way meeting involving Russia, the US, and Ukraine, Peskov said.
There were no plans at the moment, either, for a further conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, but that such a conversation could be promptly organised–if needed.
When the two leaders spoke last week, Putin declined a proposal by Trump for a full 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine but agreed to a moratorium on attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
That Russia is trying to drag the talks on to exact the maximum mileage became apparent when its negotiator, Grigory Karasin, was reported as telling the Russian news outlet TASS that Moscow wanted the “UN and certain other countries” to be part of the Riyadh negotiations.
Meanwhile, Russia continued to attack Ukraine.
On the sidelines of the US-Russia negotiations in Riyadh, a short meeting between US and Ukrainian officials on Tuesday ended, according to a Ukrainian delegation official.
“The talks are over. All details will be announced later,” the official said.
The meeting appeared to be much shorter than Monday’s 12-hour round of discussions between US and Russian officials.
