Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Ahead of the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, the Russian envoy to the UN had a very clear message for the Security Council.
Today, Tuesday, delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the US will meet for a new round of trilateral talks to try and find a diplomatic solution to the fighting in Ukraine.
The talks will take place in Abu Dhabi, and much has happened since the last round of talks back in February.
Most notably, perhaps, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hinted at freezing the front lines in Ukraine in order to “cease fire, stop the killing, sit and speak,” as he put it in an interview with CNN.
He did, however, make it clear that Ukraine would never recognize Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine as Russian, and that a suggestion for Ukraine to give up territory to end the war would not be the way to start proper negotiations.
The idea of freezing the front line has been floated before, but what does Russia think of the proposal?
Russia rejects the idea
During a meeting in the United Nations Security Council, Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations, shut the door on the proposal immediately. “We will not agree to a freeze of the conflict that would allow the existing threats to our security to persist and create conditions for a new escalation,” he told the council on Nov. 9, according to Russian news agency TASS.
In Moscow’s view, a simple halt solves nothing. Russian diplomats argue that an interim truce would merely offer Ukrainian forces time to rearm, regroup, and prepare for another clash. A pause, they say, only delays war.
Western governments pushed hard for an immediate end to the fighting, urging both sides to stop the bloodshed. Instead, they ran directly into a diplomatic brick wall as Moscow dismissed any suggestion of a temporary settlement.
The core demands
Behind the tough talk sits a sweeping list of non-negotiable terms. Russian negotiators insist they will never entertain patchwork compromises that leave what they describe as core security disputes unresolved.
Nebenzya laid out those conditions in blunt terms. “Our position is firm and unwavering: the settlement must be comprehensive, lasting, and long-term, and must address the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis — above all, the strategic threats from the Western direction, the infringement of the rights of the Russian and Russian-speaking population, and the spread of neo-Nazi ideology in Ukraine. Without resolving these fundamental issues, no agreements will ensure lasting peace.”
Those rigid demands shut the door on any quick peace initiative. While international mediators search for common ground, the Kremlin has made it clear that a quiet ceasefire is not on the table. For civilians waiting for the guns to fall silent, real peace remains painfully distant.
The trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
