Iulian Fota: "The Russians are being brought out of diplomatic isolation and are re-entering the game of the great powers"

Political analyst Iulian Fota, former presidential advisor and former secretary of state in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claims that following yesterday's negotiations in Riyadh, the ones who won are the Russians, regardless of whether the dialogue started between the two delegations will end with something positive or not.

Iulian Fota told the BURSA Newspaper: "We are witnessing exploratory talks so that the Americans and the Russians can determine whether it makes sense and sense to continue to dialogue. They have not yet reached the point of negotiating peace in Ukraine. If they start talking, the chances of negotiating increase. However, Riyadh is an important moment. Even if nothing comes out of Riyadh, the Russians still have something to gain. That is why they came to the negotiations. The Russians are winning because they are being brought out of diplomatic isolation and are re-entering the game of the great powers. And Putin becomes again, through the prospect of meeting Trump, frequentable. The Russians win. The question is whether the Americans have anything to gain. So far it seems not, but it could be a chess move: they are now making an important sacrifice in the perspective of a more interesting move in the long term. And such a move could be to attract Putin to the US side in order to distance him from China, and possibly dislodge him from the camp now created by the Kremlin with Beijing, Tehran and Pyongyang".

The former Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that from the previous statements of the two camps one can somewhat assume what each side wants, but that in no case would Trump's immediate goal be to negotiate peace in Ukraine, but only a long-term cessation of hostilities.

Iulian Fota specified: "From Donald Trump's statements, I remembered that he only said that he wanted to stop the war in Ukraine. That does not mean negotiating peace. This situation is now between North and South Korea, where hostilities ended 72 years ago, but there is still no peace treaty. The same can be done in Ukraine, through a ceasefire agreement between the two camps, and then we can have a frozen situation, on the basis of which negotiations on the conclusion of a peace treaty could begin. In my opinion, this is what the Americans and the Russians are discussing at the moment: the cessation of the war. We are witnessing a bilateral, American-Russian discussion about American-Russian relations, a discussion where other states have nothing to look for. Neither Ukraine, nor China, nor the European Union. If peace negotiations are to be reached, then yes, Ukraine and the EU must be present. The Europeans are interested in these negotiations, because they will be the first to be affected by what is established between Ukraine and Russia. The US is far away and that is why they are not interested in peace.

Regarding yesterday's statements by Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, who said that Russia does not oppose Ukraine's accession to the EU, Mr. Fota noted that it remains to be seen whether these are true in practice, taking into account that the crisis in Ukraine began in November 2013 when President Yanukovych refused to sign the association agreement with the EU, after which the Maidan intervened, and in February 2014 Russian troops occupied Crimea. The former Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also indicated that Peskov's statement regarding Ukraine's accession to the EU must also be analyzed in the light of what is happening in Georgia, where Kremlin-affiliated politicians have abandoned the pro-European trajectory of that state.