The composition of the delegations in the peace talks between Ukraine, the USA and Russia in the United Arab Emirates shows that representatives of the military intelligence service are again mostly participating in the talks, but in principle this can be considered a more serious attitude of Russia towards the talks, National Armed Forces (NBS) Major, National Guard Staff Officer Jānis Slaidiņš admitted to TV24.
Unlike the historian Vladimir Medinsky, who was sent earlier, who could lecture for hours on the root causes of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, starting with the Polovtsy and ending with historical Russian lands, military personnel have complete information about the situation at the front, about what is happening in the rear, and in the process of exchanging information, they are potentially able to understand the steps necessary to be able to get out of the war, said J. Slaidiņš.
According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, progress has been made on all positions except the territories. Ukraine has previously announced its readiness to cease hostilities on the current front line. If it stays like that, what can be “adjusted” there? If currently Russia agrees to the fact that the entire front freezes, questions arise as to what further actions will be taken to control the peace, whether there will be any monitoring and how the situation will be resolved in the further borders, said J. Slaidiņš.
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that he has already reached a significant compromise during the negotiation process. He announced this to the Americans several months ago, and US President Donald Trump repeated this conversation. As is known, the basis of the conflict was Putin’s disapproval of the very fact of the existence of Ukraine, which is a state independent from the Kremlin. The invasion of 2022 was aimed at taking control over the whole of Ukraine, while now from the Russian side there is talk of taking over 30% of control over the Donetsk region, the NBS major was able to say.
Of course, the reason here is not Putin’s compromise. For four years, the “second army of the world”, paying an extremely huge price, cannot occupy one relatively small territory of Ukraine, and currently the Russians have no possibility that they could occupy any regional centers, according to J. Slaidins, meaning, for example, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. He called it a distant dream, not to mention Mykolaiv and Odessa.
And most likely, the only reason why Putin is currently talking about this territory of the Donetsk region, looking at the Donbass, is probably the desire to end the war, if not with the complete transfer of Ukraine to Russian control, then at least with national humiliation. That’s why Putin demands that Ukraine give up its territories without a fight, because he believes that the war-weary Russian society will not tolerate such peaceful conditions, will consider them shameful and will plunge the country into an internal crisis and civil war, said J. Slaidiņš.
The situation with the Russian state budget is also not easy, to put it mildly, and Putin cannot ignore it in the negotiation process. And of all the ways of putting pressure on Putin, the Americans have chosen to use economic pressure, and judging by the indicators of the Russian budget, it is already bearing fruit. The Russian economy is “rocking”, but it will not collapse overnight, according to the NBS major.
However, if the decline is not quickly halted, the process could become irreversible, and Putin may therefore be in dire need of ending the war as soon as possible, which is why we can now see a more serious approach to the current phase of negotiations. We also see, of course, more massive attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector, and Putin is sure that this too could bear fruit, however, there will be no capitulation of Ukraine, J. Slaidiņš is sure.
date:2026-02-10 06:11:00