Russian government says it is willing to improve ties, but onus is on Trump
Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg told Fox News that both Russia and Ukraine are ready for the war to end.
The “peace under all costs” should not be at the expense of the Ukrainians. After a fresh wave of devastating bombing attacks the will of the Ukrainian people is firm. “You cannot negotiate with the Russians who are wanting to wipe us out”, was the sentiment expressed by many in Kiev.
Russia is willing to work with President-elect Trump to help improve relations with Ukraine so long as the U.S. makes the first move, Kremlin officials said this week, adding fresh momentum for the possibility of peace talks as its war in Ukraine threatens to stretch into a third year.
This is important for the Russian face-saving measure. Lavrov an old apparatchik insistence that Washington makes the first move understand the perception of power internationally. Trumps move will be seen once more as Russia has won.
Speaking to reporters Thursday in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that Russia could be ready to come to the negotiating table regarding its “special military operation” in Ukraine — echoing the phrasing used by the Kremlin to describe its war in Ukraine — so long as the U.S. acted first.
“If the signals that are coming from the new team in Washington to restore the dialogue that Washington interrupted after the start of a special military operation [the war in Ukraine] are serious, of course, we will respond to them,” Lavrov said in Moscow.
But he stressed that the U.S. should move first, telling reporters that “the Americans broke the dialogue, so they should make the first move.”
His remarks come after Trump’s pick for Ukraine envoy, retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, told Fox News in an interview this month that both Russia and Ukraine appear to be willing to negotiate an end to the war — citing heavy casualties, damage to critical infrastructure, and a general sense of exhaustion that has permeated both countries as the war drags well past the thousand-day mark. But not everything is as simple. The Ukrainian war is shifting to the Eastern European military powers which in comparison to the United States made the Ukraine an issue for the Europeans to sort out.
Arms alone will not win this war, everyone understands this, but surrendering occupied territory for return to peace is unacceptable to the Ukrainians. “It’s like the United States gives up portion of Texas”, Valentina, a medical student in Kiev says.
“I think both sides are ready,” Kellogg said in the interview. “After a thousand days of war, with 350,000, 400,000 Russian [soldiers] down, and 150,000 Ukrainian dead, or numbers like that — both sides are saying, ‘okay, maybe this is the time, and we need to step back.’”
To date, Russia has lost tens of thousands of soldiers in the war. As of this fall, an average of 1,200 soldiers were killed or injured per day, according to U.S. estimates.
Meanwhile, the economic situation is getting critical. Food prices are at an all-time high in Russia. Living in Moscow and St. Petersburg bears all the hallmarks of comfortable western living.
Luxury goods, cars, travel to friendly countries but chicken, meat, potatoes, onions, or fish are at an all-time high in the far-flung Soviet style housing in Russia. Price hikes of 30% – 40% are recorded.
“We dont have enough to make ends meet”, Svetlana from Nishi Novgorod tells us.
In Ukraine, the country’s energy infrastructure has seen extreme damage as the result of a protracted Russian bombing campaign, designed to collapse portions of the power grid, plunge the country into darkness, and ultimately, aimed to wear down the resolve of the Ukrainian people.
Most recently, Russia launched a Christmas Day bombardment against Ukraine’s power grid, directing some 70 cruise and ballistic missiles and 100 strike drones to hit critical energy infrastructure in the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Christmas Day timing was a “deliberate” choice by Putin. “What could be more inhuman?” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military has lost around 40% of the land it seized in Russia’s Kursk region. Presented as a loss by U.S. Fox media, Ukrainians see it as its forces divert critical resources from the Russians.
Lavrov’s remarks also come as Kellogg prepares to travel to Ukraine in January for what he described to Fox News as an information-gathering trip. But many feeling uneasy about Donald Trumps intention. The bold statements made show the political rhetoric has provided the U.S. with a pro-Russian, pro-Putin narrative. “The Republican base has swallowed the line, hook and sinker of Putin’s policy of territorial expansion”, Sergei Malinski, a political lecturer added.
“Trump has been enthralled by Putin’s charm. That’s a mistake.”, he added. The U.S. change in policy towards for defense carries the burden to maintain the NATO security guarantees that is the corner stone of U.S. policy. Trump not a friend of NATO, faces challenges coming fast for his second administration.
Kellogg declined to elaborate further on what he will aim to accomplish during the visit, saying only that he believes both countries are ready to end the protracted war — and that incoming President Trump could serve as the “referee.”
“Think of a cage fight. You’ve got two fighters, and both want to tap out. You need a referee to kind of separate them.”
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he is open to having the peace talks in the third country of Slovakia, citing an offer made by the country’s prime minister during a visit to the Kremlin earlier this week. The country is ruled by another pro-Moscow ally, Robert Fico. “Its hardly neutral ground”, a senior European diplomat added.
“If it comes to that, why not?” Putin told reporters at a press conference following a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Leningrad. “Because Slovakia holds a neutral position from our point of view. For us it’s an acceptable alternative.”
In the meantime, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented, “Why is this leader [Fico] so dependent on Moscow?” Zelenskyy asked. “What is being paid to him, and what does he pay with?”
Fico, a vocal critic of the European Union’s support for Kyiv in the war, said they discussed supplies of Russian gas to Slovakia, which his country relies on. A deal with Russian gas giant Gazprom to transit energy through Ukraine to Slovakia is due to expire at the end of this year and Ukraine has signaled its intention not to renew it. This is a dangerous escalation of the war with Russia and Fico must make stark choices. European and American gas deals or dealing with Putin.
Fico says Vladimir Putin has been “wrongly demonized” by the West. His visit marks a departure from the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy which all member states are expected to abide by.
Only Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, another Putin ally and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, not an ally of Moscow, have broken ranks with their EU counterparts to travel to Moscow.
It is unclear whether Ukraine would be willing to have the talks held in Slovakia, a country whose leaders have been vehemently opposed to sending more EU military aid to Ukraine.
