Of good and bad deals: The need for strategic clarity in negotiations on a ceasefire in Ukraine
Rada.youssef@i…
Wed, 12/18/2024 – 11:10
5 minutes
First of all, the EU must be mindful of the Kremlin’s strategic objectives as well as its negotiating tactics, recognising that, for Moscow, negotiations will be a continuation of war by other means – through staged theatrics, cunning manipulation and artful deception. As for its objectives, the Kremlin is determined to liquidate Ukraine’s sovereignty. Demands for demilitarisation, neutralisation, and ‘denazification’ are clearly intended to achieve this outcome. Second, Russia pursues a strategy of pre-emptive security against the (imaginary) threat from the West. To that end, it will strive to expand the territory under its control or at least its influence as far as possible. The regime is not interested in peace – it does not believe in it. To hope that the conflict can be contained to Ukraine is naïve. Everything we know about Russia’s geopolitical strategy over the last three hundred years indicates otherwise…. for Moscow, negotiations will be …read more
