Now the whole world is talking about the "Russia-Ukraine" bilateral meeting. This is mainly due to the statement by U.S. President Trump, who said that Russia and Ukraine will first hold a meeting, and then the U.S. side will join for a trilateral meeting among Russia, Ukraine, and the United States.
The Ukrainian authorities stated: "Russia itself proposed to hold a bilateral meeting with Ukraine, and then a trilateral meeting with the United States." Zelenskyy directly stated: "We are ready to hold a bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin, and then expect a trilateral meeting." However, Russia did not mention that Putin himself needs to attend the Russia-Ukraine bilateral meeting. The official Russian statement was: "Russia is ready to hold a higher-level bilateral meeting."
For a long time, Trump has been pushing for a bilateral meeting between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia, as well as a trilateral meeting involving the United States, Russia, and Ukraine. But previously, Putin had politely declined. Putin said he was not opposed to meeting with the leader of Ukraine, but it was not the right time. From the latest statements by the Russian authorities, it seems that Putin currently does not want to meet with Zelenskyy. Given that Zelenskyy has consistently stated that he will not meet any of Russia's conditions, what can Putin talk about with him? It would be a complete waste of time and energy.
Whether in international relations negotiations or business negotiations, there are common negotiation rules, which are that both sides gradually escalate the level of negotiations from lower to higher levels. Only when the talks are almost concluded, will the top leaders of both sides finally confirm and sign. There is no such thing as having a meeting between the top leaders before the issues are resolved. This violates the negotiation rules. The biggest problem is that if the top leaders meet and cannot reach an agreement, subsequent negotiations will be impossible. Trump's approach does not conform to the general negotiation rules. He himself is a person who doesn't follow the usual rules, but it doesn't mean that everyone will follow his example and act recklessly.
Original text: www.toutiao.com/article/1840867862312972/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.