by Simplicus at Simplicus the Thinker
Things are rolling full steam ahead on the ‘negotiations’ front. Russian and American counterparts are set to meet in Riyadh tomorrow, February 18th. The American team is said to consist of Rubio, Witkoff, and Mike Waltz, and the Russian one of Lavrov, Putin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, and Kirill Dmitriev.
Ushakov was once famous in Russian media for allegedly having an assistant, one Oleg Smolenkov, who was accused of being a CIA informant after allegedly being ‘exfiltrated’ to the US. If true, this is obviously a concerning bit of information.
They are seen arriving to Riyadh, Ushakov just behind Lavrov:
Lavrov’s inclusion is interesting only because he has issued the most recent direct statement that gives us a clue of the tenor of the upcoming negotiations:
“Let us be clear. No land where Russian people live will be ceded to Ukraine. Why would we make any such territorial concessions? Ukraine would simply kill those people” – Russian Foreign Ministry
This was followed by a statement from UN rep Nebenzya wherein he confirmed both Kherson and Zaporozhye regions are permanently lost to Ukraine, and will not be considered negotiable, as well as again reiterating the demilitarization component of Russian demands:…