Kremlin replaces diplomats with military negotiators after Ukraine revamps negotiation team – UP

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

Source: an article by Ukrainska Pravda (English translation to follow shortly)

Quote: "It is important that after 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 also replaced his negotiators. Now, instead of Medinsky and the rest of the so-called traditionally Russian diplomats with monologues about Rurik, the talks are being conducted by the military.

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

Details: As noted in the article, at the time when former President's Office head Andrii Yermak was trying to build a monopoly on negotiations with partners, all interactions were in fact conducted through several different channels.

The first – the official one – was led 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 reaching 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 operate in a real "one voice" mode.

This became especially evident after Arakhamiia officially returned to the negotiation group. Firstly, he 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.

Therefore, Budanov and Zelenskyy jointly decided to bring back the head of the first negotiation delegation to a group that has a chance of becoming the last one.

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