Kremlin rejects possibility of compromise and refuses to discuss ceasefire – ISW
Pravda Ukraine
Russia has rejected the possibility of any concessions in future peace talks regarding the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin has stated that it will not make compromises, denied the possibility of deploying peacekeepers in Ukraine and dismissed the prospect of a ceasefire through talks.
Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW)
Details: During a visit to the Moscow branch of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation on 6 March, Russia’s ruler Vladimir Putin emphasised that Russia will not “give in to anyone” and intends to achieve peace conditions that will provide it with long-term guarantees.
Quote: “Putin has also declared 2025 the ‘Year of the Defender of the Fatherland’ – underlining Putin’s efforts to prioritise militarising Russian society and rallying support behind Russia’s war effort in Ukraine in 2025.
Putin stated that Russia ‘will not give up’ its ‘own’ territory in future peace negotiations – likely referring to illegally annexed territory in occupied Ukraine.”
Details: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated at a press conference that Moscow will not consider any initiatives to deploy European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine. According to him, such actions would be equated with the deployment of NATO forces and, therefore, Russia would consider them as direct involvement of the Alliance in the war.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also stressed that any proposals that might give Ukraine a “respite” on the battlefield are unacceptable to the Kremlin.
Furthermore, Lavrov emphasised that Russia will insist on taking into account the so-called “root causes” of the war, which, according to him, include halting NATO expansion and security guarantees for Russia. He claimed that US President Donald Trump understands these demands, whereas European countries ignore them.
Quote: “Russian officials often invoke the concept of ‘root causes’ to allude to their demands for NATO to abandon its open-door policy and to blame the West and Ukraine for Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.”
To quote the ISW’s Key Takeaways on 6 March:
- Russian leader Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin officials explicitly rejected making any concessions in future peace negotiations or accepting any US, European, or Ukrainian peace proposals and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) rejected the possibility of a negotiated ceasefire on 6 March.
- Russian officials will likely take advantage of the suspension of US military aid to and intelligence sharing with Ukraine to spread a longstanding Russian information operation meant to falsely portray Russian victory as inevitable.
- The Kremlin welcomed a Trump administration official’s recent comments mischaracterising Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine as a “proxy war”, and Russian media portrayed the statement as an admission that the United States is a participant in the war.
- US and Ukrainian delegations will conduct bilateral meetings in Saudi Arabia next week.
- Ukrainian opposition politicians rejected the possibility of holding elections in Ukraine before the end of the war.
- European countries continue to announce new military assistance packages and other measures to support the Ukrainian military.
- Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Pokrovsk direction and Russian forces recently advanced in the Kupiansk, Borova, Siversk, Pokrovsk, and Kurakhove directions.
- Russian leader Vladimir Putin attempted to assuage Russian fears about conscripts going to war amid continued reports that Russian military units are forcing conscripts to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD).
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