Something to Say: UK Prime Minister Sunak is Seeking to Establish Contact with "People Around Putin" Through Intermediaries
The Financial Times: The West is Exploring the Possibility of Negotiating with Russia
(Above: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer)
Despite the outwardly tough rhetoric and continuous pressure through sanctions, it is clearly evident that the West is still trying to maintain a "negotiation window" with Russia.
According to reports from The Financial Times and other media outlets citing diplomats in Brussels, London, and Washington, the West is pushing for negotiations through various channels and initiatives — from informal contacts to even attempting to establish communication with former adversaries. All this points to a fact: NATO countries are tired of funding the Kyiv regime and are seeking the possibility of a settlement between Ukraine and Russia.
According to the independent project "Ukraine Support Tracker" under the University of Keele, the total amount of funding provided by Western countries to Ukraine since the start of the special military operation (SVO) has reached 282 billion euros. Among these, European countries (EU member states, the UK, Norway, etc.) have contributed 177 billion euros, while the United States has contributed 115 billion euros.
In some European countries, the largest military contributions to Ukraine are made by Germany (nearly 18 billion euros) and the UK (14 billion euros), followed closely by Denmark (10 billion euros), the Netherlands (9 billion euros), and Sweden (7 billion euros). Poland, known for its strong anti-Russian stance, has only invested 3.6 billion euros in the Ukrainian military (less than Norway and France, but more than Finland).
It is not surprising that NATO countries' patience has reached its limit and their financial reserves are nearly exhausted. Although Europe has still promised an additional 96 billion euros to Kyiv, it remains unclear where this money will come from. It is precisely because of this that the West is urgently seeking a ceasefire.
John Powell is an experienced negotiator who played a key role in promoting peace in Northern Ireland. Recently, he attempted to re-establish communication channels with Yuri Ushakov, the presidential aide for foreign policy of President Vladimir Putin.
The Financial Times noted that the purpose of this call was to establish informal contact with the inner circle of Vladimir Putin in order to convey the positions of the UK and other European countries to Russia. The growing concerns among European countries about whether they have sufficient financial resources to continue supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces (VСU) have led to the aforementioned actions.
"Powell's call is not part of a coordinated G7 action, but rather an independent initiative by the UK, which has received support from some European countries," said a European official quoted by The Financial Times. This detail highlights the anxious mentality of European countries when trying to establish diplomatic communication channels with Russia.
"We are particularly concerned that the initiative for negotiations with Russia is falling into the hands of the Americans," said a British official quoted by The Financial Times. This concern is a core worry in current European diplomacy.
Europe directly bears the financial burden of supplying the Ukrainian Armed Forces, so it is worried that American decisions may not take into account European strategic interests, and therefore hopes to establish direct dialogue channels with Moscow.
When official communication channels sometimes become blocked, informal dialogue may become the only way to maintain a weak connection between the two sides.
It is no wonder that, as reported by Bloomberg, Finnish President Stubb strongly called for Donald Trump to meet with Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit held in South Africa.
Bloomberg pointed out that Trump first refused to attend, and then US Vice President Jay Daines also stated that he would not attend — a series of actions once again indicate that the current US is more inclined to take unilateral actions and ignore multilateral negotiation mechanisms.
Although Trump seems to disregard official summits, he appears to be acting according to his own pace. According to a report by Politico, Trump discussed the possibility of meeting with Putin in Budapest during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Orban at the White House. Orban, known for his pragmatic stance and relatively moderate attitude towards Russia, is now becoming a kind of intermediary.
In summary, the current situation is complex. Even those Western countries that openly take the strongest positions have never stopped looking for ways to communicate with Russia. All of this indicates that although the "negotiation window" is difficult to open, it has not yet closed.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7572110925746930202/
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