In the wake of this weekend’s Saudi-hosted summit on Ukraine, Moscow has challenged claims by Washington that Russia is to blame for the lack of peace talks.
“[Washington] knows perfectly well that it told [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to halt negotiations in April 2022 and that it initiated the Kyiv regime’s ban on peace talks with Russia last September,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Aug. 8.
“Yet it still blames Russia,” she asserted on social media.
Ms. Zakharova was responding to remarks by U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, who recently accused Moscow of refusing to hold “meaningful” peace talks.
“There are no peace negotiations going on with Russia right now because Russia has refused to engage in meaningful peace negotiations,” Mr. Miller told reporters at an Aug. 7 press briefing.
“Should there ever be peace negotiations,” he said, “it’s Ukraine that will be in the lead from the non-Russian side.”
The United States, the spokesman added, “is happy to play any role that is productive to stand with our Ukrainian partners, and we would welcome any other country that wants to play a productive role.”
Mr. Miller’s remarks came in response to questions about a major summit on Ukraine that was held in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Aug. 5 and Aug. 6.
The summit was attended by representatives of dozens of countries, including China, India, and several European states.
Russian representatives, however, weren’t invited to attend the event.
The Zelenskyy Plan
The summit was meant to drum up support, especially among “Global South” states, for a Ukrainian peace plan ostensibly aimed at ending the conflict.Dubbed the “Zelenskyy plan,” the 10-point initiative calls for the full withdrawal of Russian forces from all regions that Kyiv and its Western backers view as Ukrainian territory.
These include the Black Sea region of Crimea, which Russia effectively annexed in 2014 after invading and overseeing a referendum.
Moscow stated that the demands enshrined in Kyiv’s peace plan fail to recognize “new territorial realities.”
Ms. Zakharova previously described the plan as a “meaningless ultimatum to Russia” aimed at prolonging the conflict.
“None of the [plan’s] 10 points are designed to find a solution to the crisis through talks and diplomatic efforts,” she said on Aug. 7.
“We remain open to resolving the crisis diplomatically and are prepared to respond to serious proposals.”
Russia started its invasion of eastern Ukraine in February 2022. Last September, it effectively annexed the Russian-speaking Donetsk and Luhansk regions, along with those of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Kyiv and its Western allies decry the invasion and subsequent annexations as an unprovoked and illegal land grab.
Moscow, however, stated that its “special military operation” aims to protect Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine and halt the further expansion of NATO to its doorstep.
Following last year’s annexations, Mr. Zelenskyy signed a decree banning any communication by Kyiv with Moscow as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in power.
‘No Diplomatic Success’
Following the summit in Jeddah, host Saudi Arabia stated that participants had agreed on the need to “continue consultations” aimed at eventually achieving peace.According to several European officials, “working groups” were drawn up among summit participants to address specific issues related to the conflict.
Andriy Yermak, Mr. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, hailed the summit as “very productive.”
“We had very productive consultations on the key principles on which a just and lasting peace should be built,” he said in a statement issued after the event.
He acknowledged, however, a lack of agreement between summit participants on certain key points of Kyiv’s peace plan. He didn’t elaborate.
Mr. Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has called for a follow-up summit—to be held sometime later this year—based on his peace initiative.
Russian officials, for their part, have stated flatly that the Saudi-hosted summit failed to achieve its objectives.
“There was no diplomatic success in Jeddah,” Anatoly Antonov, Moscow’s envoy to Washington, said on Aug. 8.
“Washington tried to paint a pretty picture of support from Global South states in an effort to isolate Russia.”
“Hence the expected result of the meeting: a lack of any common position on how to resolve the crisis,” the diplomat added.
Mr. Antonov also criticized the exclusion of Russia—a principal party to the conflict—from the event.
“First they exclude our country from the negotiation process, and then publicly accuse us of unwillingness to participate in settling the conflict,” he said.
Almost 18 months after Russia’s initial invasion, the conflict shows little sign of ending soon.
Russia remains in control of almost all territory it initially captured, while a long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive has yet to make significant breakthroughs.
