Radar Armenia‘s interlocutor is international affairs expert Shahan Gandaharian.
– Russian President Putin touched upon the negotiations with the US on the Russian-Ukrainian war. He said that Russia generally agrees that the US list of points on Ukraine can serve as a basis for future agreements.” How would you comment on the Russian President’s speech yesterday?
– Russia is showing an attitude of skipping diplomacy, not rejecting the peace proposal. This does not mean that everything is going smoothly. We are not on the verge of a turning point. Just preparations for mediated negotiations.
– How would you comment on the Russian President’s statement that “Russia sees that the US is generally taking its position into account. Every word of the peace plan on the Ukrainian issue should be seriously discussed.”
– Statements of a declarative nature. There is still no common ground in negotiations. There is a junction: on the one hand, security guarantees, on the other hand, mechanisms for determining the fate of territories. It is a complex junction, and the solution does not seem close.
– How would you assess the course of the Russian-American negotiations? New meetings are expected, and success is close.
– Meetings are not ruled out. There will be texts, re-edits, objections, and counter-proposals. There will be meetings in special formats, in different environments. This is how the current process will be depicted.
– Before that, there were also leaks in the press of conversations between the aides of the Russian President and the US President. For what purpose was this done, and what consequences will it have?
– Information leaks at such levels are not accidental. Leaks are not only aimed at shaping public opinion, but also at combining messages and applying pressure. Such leaks suggest that there is still no agreed-upon common axis. Leaked negotiations are underway.
