Having West’s diplomats meet a deputy FM shows Putin’s disdain | Kurt Volker

Ambassadors of the United Kingdom, Germany, and France have met with Russia’s deputy foreign minister on Thursday, sparking speculation about Europe trying to open peace negotiations with Moscow to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Is this meeting at all promising?

“I think meeting with (Foreign Minister) Lavrov or a deputy is not significant at all. They are basically just mouthpieces for an extreme position that Vladimir Putin chooses,” Kurt Volker, former U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, told TVP World.

“I think by getting France and Germany to agree to meet with someone at that level, Putin is already showing that he views this with disdain. This is not something that he is taking seriously. So I think they may have made a misstep by going at this level,” Volker said, while also stressing that Europe opening its own communication channels with the Kremlin, instead of relying on Donald Trump’s envoys like Witkoff, is a step in the right direction.

But at the same time, he doubts that true peace can be achieved with Russia, calling it “wishful thinking.”

“Russia and Putin want to eliminate Ukraine as a sovereign, independent state, as a national identity, as a language, a culture, a people,” he said. “So Putin will never agree to peace with Ukraine. The best we can hope for is to deter Russia, to contain them. And the best way to do that is for Ukraine to be in NATO.”

Join TVP World’s Aaron Dahmen and his guest, as they discuss Europe’s efforts toward peace, whether Ukraine has finally managed to successfully turn the tide of the war, and what threat to NATO does Russia actually pose, now and in the near future.

Chapters:
00:00 Assessment of the meeting between E3 ambassadors and Russian deputy FM
02:59 Battlefield dynamics & the importance of Russian withdrawal from Kinburn Spit
05:35 Ukraine’s NATO membership & deterrence strategy
08:11 Russia’s intentions & NATO vigilance
10:00 Expectations for the Ankara NATO summit
10:52 U.K. defense turmoil & European signaling

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