As the United States renews its diplomatic push to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, Moscow is making something clear: its position has not changed.
While U.S., Ukrainian, and Russian officials met for trilateral talks in January and again in early February — with another round expected next week — the Kremlin has used the same period to restate its position.
As Washington speaks of momentum and narrowing gaps, Russia’s most senior officials have publicly dismissed key elements of the proposed framework.
For three consecutive days, from Feb. 9 to Feb. 11, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov publicly undercut suggestions that negotiations were advancing.
His message was consistent and direct: Russia’s territorial and political demands remain intact, and any serious discussion must revolve around Ukraine accepting them.
Also power.
Ukraine just before the invasion of Crimea had just discovered that the Donbas region had a massive untapped natural gas/methane deposit. It would have ended Russian control of EU methane. Its suspected that is why Putin has been pushing for all of Donbas.
Its also about trying to make all of the soviet bloc countries stay tied to Russia.
He’s a history buff. He idolizes Peter the Great and I think a lot of this insanely expensive push is because he desires to leave a similar legacy.