West quietly pushes Russia-Ukraine talks

According to RT on December 16, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently said that many Western leaders have approached him about the possibility of holding talks to end the conflict in Ukraine. The diplomat said that the Kremlin is ready for dialogue as long as Moscow's core interests are respected.

Speaking alongside his Belarusian counterpart, Sergey Aleinik, on December 15 (local time), Mr. Lavrov told reporters that some Western powers were increasingly interested in a negotiated solution, but he declined to name any countries.

“I don’t want to and I don’t have the right to name names, but a number of high-ranking, prominent leaders of Western countries, including one particular Western leader, a very prominent leader, have repeatedly… at least through three different communication channels, sent signals inviting them to meet and discuss what to do with Ukraine and European security,” he said.

Mr Lavrov added that Russia was "always ready to have serious discussions on these issues", but he said Kiev was the unwilling party, asserting: "We have never refused negotiations and this question should not be posed to us".

However, the Russian foreign minister stressed that any negotiations would have to take into account “Russia’s legitimate interests” and would mean “an end to efforts to build security by one side at the expense of others,” referring to Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO.

Although Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in several rounds of talks in the weeks after Moscow launched its military operation, the discussions soon collapsed. According to RT, Kiev showed little interest in continuing the dialogue in the months that followed, with President Vladimir Zelensky even signing a decree banning any talks with the current Kremlin leadership.

At a conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) earlier this month, Lavrov reiterated that the two sides had essentially reached a peace agreement after talks in Istanbul in March 2022, noting that senior Ukrainian lawmaker David Arakhamia, who led the country's delegation, had recently confirmed the information.

A key political ally of Mr Zelensky, Mr Arakhamia said Russia’s main goal was to pressure Ukraine into accepting neutrality and abandoning plans to join NATO. Kiev did not trust Moscow to keep its word and wanted “security guarantees” from third parties, Mr Arakhamia said, pointing to the role of then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in blocking the talks.

Western leaders have so far made little mention of renewed peace talks in their public statements, although recent media reports suggest that US and European officials have been quietly talking about the issue behind the scenes. According to US officials cited by NBC, Washington is now “concerned that Ukraine is running out of resources” and unable to succeed on the battlefield, and this is believed to have fueled renewed interest in the talks.