While nothing prevents the United States from negotiating with Russia at this stage, achieving concrete peace agreements and security guarantees for Ukraine without European involvement is impossible. Moreover, Ukraine itself would not agree to a negotiation format that excludes European countries.
Bruno Tertrais, Deputy Director of the French Foundation for Strategic Research, said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
“There is no way that the United States, Russia, and Ukraine could agree on terms that impact European countries without their consent,” the geopolitical expert said.
According to him, this would also be against Ukraine’s interests, as the country seeks security guarantees and integration into the European Union.
“As they say in Europe when discussing Ukraine — Ukraine must ‘be in the room’ where this happens. I have no doubt that Ukraine will insist that the exact terms of the negotiations are discussed not only between the United States and Russia. In Ukraine’s case, this also concerns its rapprochement with the EU, the status of accession talks, and potential security guarantees that European countries could provide,” Tertrais said.
He referenced the consistent stance of French President Emmanuel Macron, who has ruled out any global security discussions taking place “over the heads of Europeans.”
“I must note that Macron has been advocating for this position consistently, even before Russia’s full-scale aggression. I would specifically refer to his speech at the War School [in Paris] in February 2020, where he clearly outlined strategic shifts that could have unpredictable consequences. He emphasized that strategic stability in Europe requires more than just the ‘comfort of transatlantic alignment with the United States’,” Tertrais said.
At the same time, he does not see the possibility of successful peace negotiations at this moment, as “Ukraine’s and Russia’s red lines are too far apart.”
Earlier, Tertrais also stated that Putin is not genuinely interested in real negotiations. While a meeting between him and Donald Trump could take place in the near future, the likelihood of a meaningful peace agreement being reached within the next six months remains low.
Photo: Ines Pinto Goncalves/Afterclick
Source: Peace in Ukraine cannot be achieved without Europe – French expert
