Euromaidan Press

Feb 1, 2026

Russia’s negotiation theater has a playbook — and it’s worked for a decade.

A new round of US-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine is expected Sunday. The statements will say “constructive.” They always do. At the last round in Abu Dhabi, both sides said the same thing — while 400 Russian drones hit Ukraine overnight and a million people lost power.

That’s not a contradiction. That’s the pattern.

Former Ukrainian diplomat Iuliia Osmolovska spent 15 years learning to read it. Forget the statements, she says. Watch who’s in the room. How long talks last. When documents arrive. What happens between sessions.

Her conclusion: Moscow doesn’t need a deal. It needs the talks themselves — to exhaust the West until it pressures Ukraine into concessions.

Why does the West keep falling for it? Because Western negotiators think in cost-benefit terms. Offer something beneficial, expect consideration. But Russia doesn’t work that way. “Russians value being feared,” Osmolovska told us. “If he fears, then he respects me.” They’ll take the sanctions, take the losses — as long as the world stays afraid.

That’s why negotiations won’t decide this war. When GLOBSEC asked 61 defense experts what actually drives the outcome, nine of the top ten factors were military. Talks didn’t make the list.

🔗 Full interview https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/01/31/russia-doesnt-want-a-deal-it-wants-fear-former-ukrainian-diplomat-on-why-abu-dhabi-wont-end-the-war/

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You’re watching spy chiefs trade talking points in Abu Dhabi while Russia bombs Ukrainian cities. It looks like theater because it is.

There’s a Soviet playbook for this — perfected by the man the West called “Mr. No.” Foreign minister Andrei Gromyko ran it for 28 years: stall until opponents exhaust themselves, demand the impossible, blame the other side, use the time to advance on the ground.

Russia never stopped.

After Minsk, Ukraine sat through 200+ rounds of talks. Twenty-nine ceasefires. None lasted two weeks. Then came the full-scale invasion.

Now it’s Abu Dhabi. Russia sent GRU chief Igor Kostyukov — under US, EU, and UK sanctions. Ukraine countered with Kyrylo Budanov. Both intelligence heads. Both know exactly what this is.

Russia doesn’t want peace. It wants peace talks. The difference is the whole point.

🔗 Tap the link below to find out why the West keeps falling for the same Soviet script

https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/01/31/gromykos-ghost-at-abu-dhabi-the-soviet-playbook-russia-still-uses-to-sabotage-peace/

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German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius says he sees “no signs that Russia seriously wants peace”—pointing to Putin’s attacks during ongoing US-led negotiations in Abu Dhabi as evidence.

“This is terror directed exclusively at the civilian population during a winter with temperatures of minus 20 degrees,” he said of Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, dismissing Moscow’s claims of avoiding civilian targets.

This follow Trump’s claims. The US president expressed earlier optimism about negotiations on 30 January. The Kremlin confirmed receiving his request for a strike pause—but committed only until 1 February.

Zelenskyy said the de facto pause on energy infrastructure began the night of 30 January.
Pistorius’s assessment suggests a gap between diplomatic momentum and Moscow’s actions on the ground.