Finally some clarity about the current stand of negotiations for the lost NATO proxy war in Ukraine beyond the noise of Western mainstream media
Larry C. Johnson is a former CIA officer and intelligence analyst, and former planner and advisor at the US State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. As an independent contractor, he has provided training for the US Military’s Special Operations community for 24 years. Today he runs the website Sonar21
Cross-posted from Sonar 21
During a press conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on November 27, 2025, following the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed Donald Trump’s proposed 28-point peace plan for the Ukraine conflict for the first time in detail. The plan, which had been revised after input from Ukrainian and European officials, was described by Putin as a potential starting point for negotiations, but he emphasized that it required further refinement and tied any ceasefire to major Ukrainian concessions.
Putin stated that the U.S.-Ukraine draft “could become the basis of future agreements” or “form the basis for a future deal,” acknowledging that Washington appeared to be incorporating Russia’s positions. He noted that a U.S. delegation, led by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, would visit Moscow in the coming week to discuss it further, and Russia was ready for “serious” talks. However, he clarified there were “no draft agreements” yet—only a “set of questions” for discussion.
Putin also identified his chief negotiators… Putin said:
Obviously, the negotiator from the Russian side is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When we really sit down at the negotiating table and start discussing each of the proposed items in substance and in detail, the Foreign Ministry – on our part, from the Presidential Executive Office – Vladimir Medinsky, Aide to the President who has been engaged in that from the outset. I also included my Aide, Yury Ushakov, to deal with current issues, to organise all this work, he is in touch with his American counterparts. But he cannot deal with all of this alone – the Foreign Ministry must step in and to some extent, the Presidential Executive Office. This is a big, very extensive set of issues that need to be discussed, formalised, and properly spelled out.
Andrei Kolesnikov, a reporter with the Kommersant daily, asked the following:
Mr President, are you going to insist that the territorial issue, above all in Donbass, should be resolved here and now, and for good? Or, will you agree to postpone it, so to speak, until better days? One more question, with your permission: would you agree to return to G7, the Group of Eight, as one of the peace plan versions provides; that is, to all those people?
Putin first addressed the irrelevance of the G7:
As for G7 or G8, we have never asked to be there, we were invited there once and we worked there. It was a platform for coordinating certain positions. I must say, you know, please take note, even before the tragic events in Ukraine began, I stopped travelling there. Did you notice?
This is why, when the developments in Ukraine began, they said: “Well, we are not expecting you there.” And good riddance… I do not remember who it was, I think it was the Prime Minister who went there once. The first time I refused was because really, I do not invent anything, it was when the Government was formed after I was elected President, I think in 2012. However, we never reject contacts, we are always open for interaction. First, nobody invites us there, I have not heard of or received any official proposals. And second, we know how the great majority of that association, called the Big Seven, and I have already said it once that I do not quite understand why it is called the big seven: in terms of territory, population and contribution to the global GDP they are getting smaller and smaller. Well, it does not matter, they are our important partners anyway. In today’s situation I just cannot imagine how we can interact directly. Can you imagine it? Well, we’ve arrived, hello, and now we will be stare at each other, or what?
Putin then reiterated Russia’s June 14, 2024 demands, insisting that Ukrainian forces must fully withdraw from the four regions claimed by Moscow (Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia)—including areas not currently occupied by Russian troops—before any ceasefire could be signed. He warned: “Ukrainian forces will have to leave the territories they currently occupy, and then the fighting will stop. If they don’t, we will achieve this by military means.” He added that Russia was prepared to “fight to the last Ukrainian” if necessary.
Putin also repeated Moscow’s long-standing position that an unconditional ceasefire with Ukraine is out of the question:
We’re still receiving calls for a cessation of hostilities here, there, and there. Ukrainian troops will withdraw from the territories they occupy, and then the hostilities will cease. If they don’t withdraw, we’ll achieve this through military means.
There has been some wild speculation about a meeting earlier this week in Abu Dhabi between representatives of the Russian and Ukrainian intelligence services. Putin addressed that question as follows:
As for the Abu Dhabi talks, yes, I have heard some information noise on this score. But there was nothing unusual, nothing secret happening there either. Our secret services, Russian and Ukrainian, have always been in contact with each other, even in the hardest times. And they are in contact now. What are they dealing with? They are resolving a number of humanitarian issues, primarily related to the exchange of prisoners of war. The Abu Dhabi platform is actively used for this purpose. We are very grateful to the President of the United Arab Emirates for the opportunities extended to us. Thanks to his efforts, hundreds of our men, our heroes, have returned to their homeland.
At the initiative of the Ukrainian side, one of such regular meetings was scheduled and took place in Abu Dhabi. On our side, one of Russia’s FSB leaders attended it. A representative of the US administration also came to this meeting. It was a bit unexpected for us, but we never give up on contacts. He spoke with the Russian representative and wondered if perhaps we should not wait until next week to continue contacts but rather hold a meeting in Moscow this week.
To sum it up, there has been no substantive change in the position President Putin outlined at his 14 June 2024 meeting with the Russian Foreign Ministry.
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