Foreign Affairs published today the results of a most fruitful collaboration between @scharap and yours truly, an article on the failed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine (March-April 2022). foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/talks-….
The main takeaway: it's complicated. The talks indeed produced important documents, which we saw and analyzed. There are some remarkable revelations in these drafts.
There's nothing 'complicated' about this lost paradise of the 'Istanbul deal that could have ended the war' - the Kremlin was never even closely serious about those 'contacts' with Ukraine, and it was forwarding knowingly unacceptable and absurd demands while regrouping for a new offensive in Donbas following the March setback at Kyiv. The problem is that certain high-browed armchair strategists somehow persuaded themselves that Putin was a good-faith dove of peace offering a perfect deal he'd respect forevermore, while those dumb, mean Ukrainians rejected his noble gesture because Boris Johnson made them do so.
@DrRadchenko @scharap The West/UKR need to revisit this issue, immediately. As Alex of History Legends points out in today's #DeepDive, there is virtually no chance the Ukraine army can hold what it's got, much less *ever* recapture territory. Make a deal now. youtube.com/watch?v=A1fkwB…
@DrRadchenko @scharap Who is Samuel Charap aka Valdai Sam? Why would you collaborate with him? How could anything fruitful come out of such a foul endeavor?
@DrRadchenko @scharap Who is Samuel Charap aka Valdai Sam? Why would you collaborate with him? How could anything fruitful come out of such a foul endeavor?
@DrRadchenko @scharap If the territorial issues were not discussed, them what kind of deal are we talking about?
@DrRadchenko @scharap After all his hard work on this piece, @DrRadchenko deserves a chance to relax with a cup of….(spotted just now in a farm shop in Gloucestershire):
@DrRadchenko @scharap The talks failed because Putin’s terms would have turned Ukraine into another Belarus.