Russia Open to Negotiations With Ukraine, Factoring In New Realities

Russian officials indicated on Wednesday that Russia would be open to negotiations with Ukraine but the two nations must accept the new "realities" amid their ongoing war.

During a press conference, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, "We are still open to negotiations. We have never refused to have them. We are ready to negotiate, of course, taking into account the realities that are emerging at the moment," the state-run Russian news agency Tass reported.

The Russian Foreign Ministry Twitter account also posted further remarks from Zakharova from the press briefing.

"Ukraine's withdrawal from the negotiating process and the conditions set forth by its leaders for resuming talks, as well as Kiev's ban on dialogue with Russia – all this demonstrates that Ukraine and its Western patrons have completely lost touch with reality," one tweet said.

"Although recently Western media have been actively promoting the need to resume negotiations on peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, YET authorities of the US, Canada & Western European countries are doing everything to prolong hostilities as far as possible," another tweet read.

The remarks by Zakharova come amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which first began when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the "special military operation" on February 24.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky previously said that Ukraine is "ready for a dialogue with Russia, but with another president of Russia." This week, Zelensky made an address to his nation and stressed the "need to immediately stop Russian aggression, restore our territorial integrity, and force Russia into genuine peace negotiations."

"Restoration of territorial integrity, respect for the UN Charter, compensation for all damages caused by the war, punishment of every war criminal and guarantees that this will not happen again," Zelensky said. "These are completely understandable conditions."

Yuri Zhukov, an associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan, told Newsweek that the new "realities" mentioned by Zakharova are "Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian provinces and the mobilization of civilians into the Russian army."

"The main source of bargaining leverage Russia has is the territory it occupies," Zhukov said. "This enables it to say 'we will withdraw if Ukraine does A, B and C.' But annexation makes it more politically costly for Russia to make these kinds of territorial concessions, since it would be giving away land that Putin promised would remain Russian 'forever.'

"This narrows the bargaining range, and gives the two sides less to talk about. Mobilization creates a different kind of bargaining problem. This is a future source of leverage, in the sense that mobilization can help Russia more effectively defend these territories and allows them to rebuild units ahead of a potential new offensive in the spring."

The Washington Post recently reported that U.S. officials have been encouraging Ukraine to engage in peace talks with Russia, citing anonymous sources close to the matter.

Ahead of the midterm elections in the U.S., National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan traveled to Ukraine and said that following the elections, the U.S. would continue its "unwavering and unflinching" support for Ukraine.

"We fully intend to ensure that the resources are there as necessary and that we'll get votes from both sides of the aisle to make that happen," Sullivan said last week.

Prior to Sullivan's remarks, Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy said if the GOP wins back the House in the midterm elections, they will not "write a blank check to Ukraine," during an interview with PunchBowl News.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian and Ukrainian ministries of foreign affairs for comment.

Update 11/10/22, 9:22 a.m. ET. This story was updated with additional comment from Yuri Zhukov.