15 May, 09:17
The deadlock in the negotiation process between Ukraine and Russia is not about the content of the points, nor about the mediators, nor even about the lack of trust. The main problem lies in Putin’s personality. Putin considers himself a sacralized figure, not a politician.
Putin does not perceive negotiations as a tool for equal dialogue. He sees himself not as a statesman, but as a figure outside and above the human level. He is not a president — he is “history,” a “tsar,” a “last messianic monarch.”
This is not a metaphor, but an ideological reality. Putin can talk to someone almost equal to him — Xi Jinping, or perhaps Trump. Possibly — the Pope. But not Zelensky. Not Scholz. And not even Kim Jong Un. Because for him, they are mere mortal little people. And he is the anointed one of God.
The phantom delegation: why Medinsky was sent there
That is why the negotiation process was initially framed as farce. As head of the delegation, Russia sent not a diplomat, not a politician, not a decision-maker — but a court jester, Medinsky: a fantasy-prone historian, a propagandist of myths about Moscow’s greatness, the man who headed the Ministry of Culture and created the foundational myth of the “primordial Muscovite Rus’.”
The other members of the delegation are deputies, “shadows,” “formalists.” It is a demonstrative humiliation of the format. Under normal conditions, this would look like sabotage. But in Putin’s logic, this is the essence: there will be no negotiations until you capitulate. The delegation is merely ritual, empty decoration, so that Western diplomats can say the “process is ongoing.”
Historical recurrence: Pereyaslav 2:0 — the same gesture again
A similar situation occurred in 1654. Then the Cossack Rus-Ukraine tried to form an alliance with the Moscow tsar. The tsar did not arrive. He sent voivode Buturlin, who refused to participate in the official ceremonies and merely recorded the Ukrainians’ formal desire to become a party to the agreement. Formality instead of a treaty. Silence instead of signatures. Complete subjugation instead of an equal union.
This is not diplomacy. This is a ritual of colonization. The same thing is happening now. Only now, instead of Buturlin — we have Medinsky. And again, not a single top-level figure. But a million hints at Ukraine’s lack of subjectivity. Only a simulation of “negotiations.”
Stalin, Lenin, Putin: lies as a strategic pause
Putin is not the heir of Peter the Great or Alexander II. He is the direct political descendant of Stalin and Lenin. And they used negotiations solely for regrouping and gaining time. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918 was signed by Lenin only to survive. As soon as the Red Army gained strength — the offensive on Europe followed. And if not for the heroism of the Polish-Ukrainian forces near Warsaw — the “Russians” might have reached Berlin.
Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact not out of love for Germany. But to gain time necessary to deploy his troops for the very same invasion of Europe.
Putin uses the rhetoric of “peace” and “negotiations” in exactly the same way — to wait for elections in the U.S., for a split in the EU, for Ukraine fatigue. There are no peaceful goals in this.
Putin’s goal is the sacralization of war
For Putin, war is not an evil — it’s a stage. He’s building a new chapter in the book of “Victory-madness” (pobedobesie). It’s a form of his personal legitimization. He cannot stop the war, because then he’ll be left face to face with old age, defeat, and the question: “What was it all for? Why did a million ‘Russians’ die?”
Putin will not sign peace. He will delay, fight, lose, retreat, attack again — but he will not sit at a real negotiating table as long as there remains even the smallest chance of a sacred victory. He does not sign peace — he accepts capitulations. That is his entire logic.
What Ukraine and the West must understand
There will be no negotiations — only imitation. Until there is a change of power in the Kremlin or extreme military exhaustion of the Russian Federation, talking to Putin is pointless.
No compromises based on the myth of “equality.” For Putin, compromise is defeat. And defeat is the collapse of his sacred image as tsar.
No new Budapests. Any “guarantees,” “peace formulas,” “neutrality” — are merely pretexts for the next strike in 3–5 years.
No negotiations through the Medinskys. One must talk to those who make decisions. Until such people appear — there are no real negotiations.
Conclusion
Any attempt at a “peace plan” with Putin is not diplomacy. It is self-deception, a mask for capitulation, and preparation for the next war. Pereyaslav already happened. To repeat it, believing that this time “Moscow is more honest” — is madness. Putin does not conclude peace. He waits for the moment to destroy the enemy. And if negotiations are taking place — it means the enemy is not yet destroyed.
Understanding this — is the beginning of a real strategy.
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