By Anthony Marcus for Eurasia Business News, July 22, 2025. Article n°1644.

Photo : View on the Kremlin, center Moscow, 2025. Photo credits : Eurasia Business News.

Moscow views the chances of a “breakthrough” in the current negotiations with Ukraine as low, reflecting significant and fundamental disagreements between the two parties. The Kremlin has expressed support for a new round of peace talks in Istanbul but emphasized that the positions of Russia and Ukraine are “diametrically opposed,” requiring substantial diplomatic efforts to bridge gaps.

Despite Russia’s stated willingness to engage in talks, its delegation remains the same mid-level team that attended earlier Istanbul negotiations in May and early June, suggesting a lack of strong commitment to a negotiated peace and an intent to prolong talks to support ongoing military operations and extract concessions. 

Russia’s demands continue to focus on conditions amounting to Ukrainian capitulation, including the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from regions taken by Russia in August-Septembre 2022 and international recognition of those territories.

Ukraine, in contrast, insists on a ceasefire as a prerequisite for further negotiations, along with reciprocal prisoner exchanges and release of abducted civilians. President Zelenskyy has proposed accelerated talks, including the possibility of a meeting with Russian President Putin, but so far, concrete progress remains elusive.

Peskov and other Russian officials have repeatedly rejected accusations from Kyiv and its Western partners of stalling peace talks. Meanwhile, Moscow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, launching more drones than it did during some entire months in 2024. Kremlin claims that theses attackes are an answer to the launch of Ukrainian drones against the Russian territory.

Overall, the Kremlin assesses that substantive breakthroughs are unlikely in the short term given the entrenched opposing positions and ongoing conflict dynamics.

At previous meetings, which took place on May 16 and June 2, the delegations agreed on the exchange of prisoners of war, and also presented each other with memorandums on the terms of the ceasefire. The Russian president said that the proposals of the two countries are directly opposite, “but the negotiations are organized and held in order to look for ways of rapprochement,” he said.

Advertisements

Our community already has nearly 150,000 readers!

Subscribe to our Telegram channel

Follow us on Telegram, Facebook and Twitter

© Copyright 2025 – Eurasia Business News. Article no. 1644.