Moscow rejects every version of the U.S.-backed peace plan, rails against EU involvement

 ISW analysts noted that from the moment the first information appeared about the 28-point "peace plan", Russian officials and ultranationalists have been dismissing it — on the grounds that the proposal allegedly failed to account for all of Russia’s absolutist military demands.

At the same time, senior Russian officials and mouthpieces of the ultranationalist camp are distorting the likely changes to the original plan and Europe’s involvement in the process as something that supposedly undermines the peace process. In doing so, they are likely trying to deflect attention from Russia’s own refusal to make any compromises or agreements, ISW suggested.

For example, Vladimir Putin’s aide Yuriy Ushakov said on Nov. 24 that the European version of the peace plan is unacceptable for Russia. Leonid Slutsky, chair of the Russian State Duma’s foreign affairs committee, claims that the European variant would merely prolong the war. Svetlana Zhurova, deputy chair of the State Duma’s foreign affairs committee, said that “if we keep rewriting the document every time, this will drag on forever.”

Zhurova also repeated the Kremlin narrative that Russia sees only two parties to the negotiations — Russia and the United States — implying that, from the Kremlin’s perspective, any negotiation of peace plans should exclude Ukraine and Europe.

Russia’s so-called “war correspondents” and ultranationalists — whom ISW called a key pillar of support for Putin — also continue to reject the updated version of the peace plan, criticize the United States for deviating from Russia’s demands, and claim that Europe only wants to prolong the war in Ukraine. In their posts, these “milbloggers” are urging Russia to achieve its war aims by force, the Institute noted.

For its part, ISW stressed that it is the Kremlin that has refused any meaningful negotiations in response to all peace initiatives led by the United States in 2025, and has shown no willingness to make the significant compromises needed for a negotiated process.

The Kremlin is most likely seeking to drag out negotiations over ending the war in order to give Russian forces the opportunity to continue advancing on the battlefield, the Institute for the Study of War believes. ISW suggested that Moscow is likely planning to use any new gains on the ground to step up information operations aimed at convincing the West and Ukraine that a Russian military victory is inevitable and that capitulating to Russia’s demands is therefore necessary.

“The Kremlin still shows no willingness to compromise in the interest of good-faith peace talks and has done nothing to prepare Russians to accept anything less than a complete Russian victory in Ukraine,” ISW concluded.