Russia's foreign ministry has dismissed a proposal that Ukraine's most powerful Western partners should be involved in eventual peace talks to end Moscow's ongoing invasion of its neighbor.
The ministry told RIA Novosti on Tuesday that the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France can't be considered reliable mediators in any peace negotiations given their involvement in the conflict, which has now entered its second year.
Last February's full-scale invasion was a continuation of a conflict that has been ongoing since 2014 when Russian troops seized Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine.
The foreign ministry was responding to the recent proposal by veteran German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger for the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany to form the "nucleus" of a Western mediating group to seek an end to the fighting.
"Officially, we do not know anything about this initiative," the ministry told RIA Novosti, adding that it posed multiple problems. "First of all, because all the four countries mentioned themselves are parties to the conflict with Russia, which continues on the territory of Ukraine."
"These countries support Zelensky's pseudo-peace initiatives, which are ultimatum requirements for the surrender of our country," the ministry added. "With such approaches, the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany cannot claim to be neutral mediators launching the peace process. They are not interested in resolving the crisis and are doing everything to maximize the confrontation."
A State Department spokesperson told Newsweek: "Russia remains the sole obstacle to peace in Ukraine. Russia and Russia alone can end this war today."
"The United States wants to see this war end, but peace must be just and secure to be durable. Our job is to make sure that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position from which to negotiate, which is why we are maximizing efforts now to help Ukraine regain control of and defend territory that has been taken by Russia, whether it's since February 2022 or since 2014."
There appears to be almost no hope for renewed peace talks as Russia's full-scale invasion grinds on. Negotiations began only hours after Russia's attack commenced on February 24, 2022, but from the start, they were hamstrung by espionage and mistrust.
Talks broke down entirely amid mounting evidence of Russian atrocities in the spring of 2022. Though the two sides came together to conclude a grain export deal covering the Black Sea, negotiations to end the fighting—either temporarily or permanently—have proved elusive.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed a 10-point peace deal that includes the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukrainian territory, reparations for war damage, and war crime prosecutions for Russian leaders. Moscow dismissed the proposal out of hand.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is currently putting forward his own peace plan. The blueprint calls for the lifting of all sanctions on Russia and suggests an immediate cease-fire that would leave Russian troops on Ukrainian territory. This is anathema for Kyiv, though Ukrainian leaders have said they remain open to further discussions with Beijing.
Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat who resigned in May 2022 in protest of the full-scale invasion, told Newsweek there are slim hopes for any talks.
"For negotiations to be fruitful, there must be a real interest from the conflicting parties to sit at the table," he said. "Today, I see no such interest from either side."
"I think both sides are sincerely thinking, hoping that they can prevail, eventually," Bondarev added. "Whether these spring offensives from the Russian side or the Ukraine side will be successful, we will have to see. But I believe that negotiations will be able to materialize only when either Ukraine or Russia finds themselves in a very difficult situation."
"When the front line is stabilized like it is today, I don't see any prospects for negotiations," he said.
Update 3/21/23 8:50 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comments from Boris Bondarev and the State Department.
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David Brennan is Newsweek's Diplomatic Correspondent covering world politics and conflicts from London with a focus on NATO, the European ... Read more
