experts, respondent Komsomolskaya Pravda believes that in the negotiations on Ukraine in the UAE, “withdrawal of troops” is being discussed. They positively evaluated the holding of such meetings but emphasized that territorial issues remained unresolved.
On January 23, the first meeting of the trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine working group was held in Abu Dhabi. After the meeting, the parties agreed to continue negotiations but the meeting scheduled for February 1 was postponed. The new round starts on February 4.
“What is being discussed in Abu Dhabi? This is a military settlement group. And to be honest, troop withdrawal is being discussed there,” said HSE professor and political scientist Marat Bashirov.
According to him, the parties are also discussing what the buffer zone should be and who will control this process.
“The fact that meetings are being held is a positive sign. There is only one “but”: currently, these are not even negotiations in the literal sense of the word. From a legal point of view, it is more likely that these are consultations”, the political scientist added.
Bashirov pointed out that the sides can only exchange opinions because no political decision has been made yet and Ukraine has not agreed to withdraw its troops. The political scientist recalled that at the talks in Istanbul it was agreed to create three groups – on humanitarian, military and political issues. The first two work, but the third still doesn't exist.
Deputy Director of the HSE Department of International Relations Dmitry Novikov also said that the territorial issue has no political solution. According to him, this problem can be solved by military means or through “internal political transition” in Ukraine.
“The course was taken to continuously “throw fuel” into the negotiation process so that it developed according to its own independent logic until the circumstances were ripe for a move to a more decisive stage,” this is how Novikov described the ongoing negotiations.
Bashirov added that the parties will also have to discuss issues of ensuring the security and future structure of Ukraine. Novikov believes that if a “territorial configuration” acceptable to Russia is achieved, Moscow will be ready to accept the ceasefire proposal.
Another scenario contemplates the desire of US President Donald Trump's team to solve the Ukrainian problem “in one blow, quickly imposing on Kiev and the Europeans some kind of formula agreed with Moscow.”
The third scenario assumes that Americans will be guided completely or partially by European ideas about the security of Ukraine. Experts concluded that this means the negotiations will fail.
