Diplomats naturally value dialogue; but when it comes to current relations with Moscow, the wisdom of such an approach looks dubious—particularly following the week of consecutive rounds of tough talks between Russia on the one hand and the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and finally the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on the other hand. Discussions of Russian demands for “security guarantees” were doomed to failure from the outset, which is unlikely to change going forward. Moscow’s position remains unreasonably demanding and deliberately rude, so the message from the Kremlin—that President Vladimir Putin might be open to a conditional future summit after he examines the forthcoming written US response to his proposals—is merely a preemptive acknowledgement that there is nothing to discuss (Rossiiskaya Gazeta, January 14, 2022). The question about what to expect in such a situation looms large, and the answers depend upon the interpretation of what Putin’s intentions behind the “ultimatum,” delivered ten days after his video-conference with US President Joseph Biden on December 7, really were.
Tough Talks Produce New Russia-West Face-Off (Pavel K. Baev, The Jamestown Foundation)
Related articles
