New talks are expected between the US and Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
According to Bloomberg, Jared Kushner, son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, and Middle East envoy Steve Whitkof plan to meet with Putin in Moscow.
Russia, however, is maximizing the terms of the negotiations before the expected meeting and renewing them.
Russia is now claiming not only Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson but also the Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
On January 14, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov again referred to Russia's demands on these territories as "Novorossiya."
The fate of Crimea, both in Europe's peace concept and US plans, does not promise a favorable perspective for Ukraine.
This is Russia's attempt to appear strong and dominant at the negotiating table, and probably the Kremlin:
- Aims to prove that Russia's demands exceed those reflected in the 28-point plan proposed by the US to come out more profitably from the negotiations,
- Attempts to compensate for the risks faced by the Kremlin from US operations in Venezuela through Ukraine.
Another point relates to Donald Trump's plan to annex Greenland.
If the US and Russia reach an agreement, their next bargaining ground will be the plan to share the wealth in Greenland.
Aqshin Karimov,
Staff member at the Social Research Center
