‘Difficult’ peace talks highlight Putin’s chief negotiator and Ukraine’s adversary

Russia and Ukraine disagree on much, but both sides left the latest round of US-led peace talks on Wednesday describing the talks as “difficult.”

Moscow – and a rising President Donald Trump – have blamed Ukraine for the lack of a deal, while Kyiv says the Kremlin is stalling instead.

The future of the region in eastern Ukraine is a key holdout as the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion approaches next week, with Vladimir Putin desperately seeking to cast doubt on whether he really wants to make a deal.

For many in Ukraine and outside observers of the war, the lack of progress should come as no surprise given the man Putin sent to Geneva this week as his chief negotiator.

The Russian delegation in the first two rounds of the recent trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi was led by the country’s intelligence chief, Adm. Igor Kostyukov. But Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky led Moscow’s delegation to the Swiss city this week.

“Russia is trying to cancel the talks,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X on Wednesday. He later told reporters that the talks were not easy, as the two sides have not yet come together on “sensitive” topics.

Medinsky described the two-day negotiations as “difficult but businesslike.”

The two sides have indicated that they will meet again, and Zelenskyy said that progress has been made on military issues, especially the role of the United States in monitoring any future ceasefire.

Medinsky he led Russia in the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul in March 2022, a few weeks after the attack. Those talks did not lead to an agreement, with Kyiv choosing to continue fighting with the military support of its Western allies.

Medinsky, 55, who has been Putin’s aide since 2020, is known as a loyal lieutenant, with interpretations of Ukraine’s history similar to those of the Russian leader himself.

The Kremlin has used history to bolster its attack, arguing that much of Ukraine has always been part of Russia, rather than an independent state. “It would seem obvious to anyone with an elementary school history background: Russians and Ukrainians are historically one people,” Medinsky wrote in a November op-ed in the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.

After Medinsky’s brief statement on the status of the peace talks on Wednesday, a Russian journalist asked: “Are there any lessons from history at least?”

Those on the other side of the table seem to expect the same.

“On the road, together with our partners, we will discuss the lessons of our history and look for the right conclusions,” said Zelenskyy’s new chief of staff, Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, in the post at X on Sunday as he goes to Geneva.

“We don’t have time for all this —,” Zelenskyy told Axios in an interview Tuesday, when asked about Medinsky’s philosophical leanings on the “historical roots” of the war.

NATO chief Mark Rutte suggested Medinsky’s reintroduction to the peace process might betray Putin’s intentions.

“Are you serious, Putin, about all this?” Rutte said at the Munich Security Conference last week. “He is also sending this historian next week to hold talks in Geneva.”