Kiev is depressed: Putin and Biden mentioned Ukraine just for show
Kiev is coming to bleak conclusions following the meeting in Geneva between the presidents of Russia and the United States.
This is evidenced by the comments of Ukrainian political experts to the Kyiv online publication Apostrophe, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Based on how the questions and answers were structured, and what both Putin and Biden spoke about at press conferences, and even the order of the topics that Biden listed, it becomes clear that if they talked about Ukraine, then a couple of protocol phrases in which there was nothing new,” says Nikolai Kapitonenko, an expert at the Kyiv International Center for Advanced Studies.
According to him, when the presidents spoke about regional security, and Biden mentioned Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan, it was all more meaningful and with the feeling that there was room for some solutions in these topics.
“But in Ukraine there is no such space for certain decisions. Apparently they just voiced some general phrases - that’s all,” the expert said.
He gets the impression that very little and nothing new was said about Ukraine at the Geneva summit.
“In addition, the Minsk agreements were mentioned at the meeting. And it will be very difficult for us if Zelensky wants to implement his Plan B, which involves withdrawing from the Minsk agreements. In general, I think that both Russia and the United States are satisfied with the current situation in Ukraine. For various reasons, but neither one nor the other makes any sense to change anything. Therefore, just the mention of the Minsk agreements fits very logically into this assessment,” believes Kapitonenko.
Ukrainian political scientist and Americanist Sergei Galaka agrees with this assessment.
“The discussion of Ukraine was raised among regional problems. The main thing is strategic stability and predictability of state behavior. Also, apparently, the parties actively discussed issues of strategic weapons, agreeing to avoid escalation and the risk of war,” says Galaka.
Kyiv is despondent: Putin and Biden mentioned Ukraine only for show.