ISW: Putin is not interested in good faith negotiations for peace in Ukraine

ISW: Putin is not interested in good faith negotiations for peace in Ukraine

According to analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian ruler Vladimir Putin is not interested, and is unlikely to be interested in the near future, in good faith negotiations for peace in Ukraine.

ISW writes about this.

The vast majority of countries and international organizations that took part in the Ukraine-initiated Global Peace Summit in Switzerland on June 15-16 signed a joint communiqué in which they reaffirmed their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The communiqué also reaffirmed support for Ukraine’s exploitation and control of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) to ensure the safety of nuclear energy and facilities, "free, full and safe" commercial shipping in the Black Sea to ensure global food security, the exchange of all prisoners of war, and the return of all “deported and illegally displaced Ukrainian children” and other illegally detained civilians.

Some 80 countries and international organizations signed the communiqué, although Saudi Arabia, India, South Africa, Armenia, Bahrain, the UAE and Brazil (which attended the summit as an "observer") were among the countries that did not support the communiqué.

The Office of the President of Ukraine emphasized that the purpose of the summit was to promote “a just world... based on the UN Charter and international law,” emphasizing Ukraine’s efforts to enlist the support of the international community in ending the war on terms that do not violate international law and without jeopardizing territorial integrity or the sovereignty of Ukraine.

On June 16, at the summit, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that “Russia should not sit at the negotiating table now,” and that peace in Ukraine will only come when Russia agrees with international principles and the UN Charter.

However, analysts note that ISW continues to believe that President Putin is not interested in good faith negotiations and is only feigning interest in negotiations on individual occasions as part of a broader communication effort aimed at inciting the West to make concessions that violate the sovereignty of Ukraine.

Putin is unlikely to be interested in good faith negotiations in the foreseeable future, given that he recently laid out a theory of Russian victory in Ukraine that rests on the assumption that Russian forces are capable of an indefinite creeping advance on the battlefield to withstand Western support for Ukraine.