Russian press secretary Dmitry Peskov announced on the 16th that Russia would not negotiate with the United States on the Ukraine issue.
On the one hand, this shows that Russia has completely controlled the pace of the special military operation and believes that it is a critical moment to restart peace talks. Of course, with the great changes in the Russia-Ukraine war, the content and objectives of the negotiations should also change dramatically. So there needs to be a renegotiation.
On the other hand, Russia is deliberately controlling the sphere of influence of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, does not want it to become a global event, and hopes to limit its resolution within Europe, and if possible, it can be resolved through direct negotiation between Russia and Ukraine.
Russia, of course, knows that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has had a substantial and comprehensive impact on the world, and many things can no longer be returned to the pre-war period. And when and how this conflict will be resolved peacefully will surely attract the attention of the whole world. Without the participation of the United States, there should be no complete solution.
However, Russia just wants to humiliate the United States by naming and excluding it, clearly warn the United States not to try to meddle in the internal affairs of the Slavs, and even deliberately improve the status and role of European countries and Turkey in resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, so as to achieve the goal of dividing the relationship between the United States and its allies.
Russia is encouraging European countries to play a more proactive role in peace talks in order to ease their economic pressure and internal contradictions as soon as possible. The deeper they invest and the greater the role they play, the more they will hurt the United States and the more beneficial it will be for repairing relations with Russia in the future.
In addition, for the future Ukraine**, if it has to choose between the United States and the European Union, it should first cooperate with EU countries, because it is close to European countries and too far from the United States. Therefore, in peace negotiations, Ukraine is better able to accept the proposals put forward by European countries, while whatever the United States says, it will feel very insidious.
So instead of leaving the United States to make trouble in the negotiations, it is better to kick the United States out of the way from the beginning, although then both Ukraine and the EU will be affected by the United States, but in the end they will both have to fight for their own interests, which will make the peace negotiations have a substantive result.
In fact, Russia's move is tantamount to supporting the EU to save face, recognizing its role and status in resolving regional conflicts, and helping them eliminate US interference. The EU will also feel Russia's goodwill, and will take the initiative to interact with Russia and work together for a warmer winter in Europe this year.