Kremlin replaced diplomats with military negotiators after Ukraine revamped negotiation team – UP

The Kremlin changed its delegation from empty-talking diplomats to professional Russian military officers after Kyrylo Budanov, the new Head of the President's Office, and Davyd Arakhamiia, leader of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, joined the negotiations on ending the war.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda profile of Budanov

Quote: "It is significant that once Budanov and Arakhamiia entered the negotiation process, the nature of communication changed – not only with the Americans, but also with Russia. In parallel with the changes in the Ukrainian delegation, Putin replaced his negotiators as well. Now, instead of [Putin's aide Vladimir] Medinsky and the other Russian diplomats of long standing with their monologues about Rurik [the semi-legendary 9th-century founder of the ruling dynasty of Kyivan Rus to whom Putin traces the origin of the Russian state – ed.], the talks are being conducted by military officials.

One of Ukrainska Pravda's sources familiar with the negotiations said: 'Previously, our people used to have to listen to hour-long sermons about who conquered whom and when back in the past. Now they have military officers sitting there and discussing very specific things: withdrawal mechanisms, guarantees, timelines, and so on. This is probably the key change that came about when Budanov arrived.'"

Details: The article notes that during the period when former President's Office head Andrii Yermak was trying to establish a monopoly on negotiations with Ukraine's partners, communication was actually conducted through several different channels.

The first channel – the official one – was run by Yermak in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At least two other so-called back channels operated through the connections of Budanov and Arakhamiia.

And the signals that reached Ukraine's partners and enemies through these three different channels were also different: the official channel adhered to the rhetoric of the "peace formula", while the unofficial ones conveyed a more down-to-earth and realistic assessment of the situation and processes in Ukraine.

After the official negotiation channel effectively came under Budanov's control, the entire negotiation process on the Ukrainian side began to speak with "one voice".

This became especially evident after Arakhamiia officially returned to the negotiating team. Firstly, Arakhamiia has a wide network of contacts in the United States. Secondly, he worked closely with Budanov back in the Yermak era. Thirdly, and no less importantly, since the Istanbul talks he has had direct contact with Russians such as Roman Abramovich.

It was for these reasons that Budanov and Zelenskyy jointly decided to bring back the leader of the first delegation to a group that has a chance of becoming the last one.

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