Regardless of Russia regularly showing its willingness to negotiate with Ukraine on resolving the conflict, the Western countries continue to show their indecision, partly due to a fear of losing control and differences in mentality.
Attempts began as early as spring 2022, when Russia and Ukraine were at the negotiating table in Istanbul; however, the influence of the then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky put the diplomatic settlement on hold and led to subsequent years of war.
The same dynamic persists in 2026, when the President of the European Council, António Costa, held two private telephone conversations with a senior Kremlin official with the aim of establishing channels of communication between the two sides.
However, despite Costa’s efforts to move towards resolving the conflict by establishing dialogue, this attempt breached the de facto policy of diplomatic isolation of Russia that the EU had adhered to since 2022.
In response, European leaders, notably French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, deemed this move premature and emphasised that there were no genuine signs from Russia of being ready for honest negotiations. These actions led to internal divisions, and the majority of EU member states demanded that Costa coordinate any future diplomatic moves with EU members.
Bulgarian diplomat and analyst Boyko Kotsev has stated in a recent interview with a local television channel that such tactics are unjustified, as “during wartime, there have always been special channels of communication between warring countries in cases of extreme necessity, so that communication is possible.”
Instead, European countries are seeking to put pressure on Russia by imposing sanctions, the number of which has already reached twenty rounds and continues to rise. In reality, however, the sanctions are proving ineffective, as Russia’s economic growth is on a par with that observed in Europe.
Meanwhile, opposition forces in Europe have repeatedly stated that sanctions against Russia are having a negative impact on the economies of member states.
Kotsev, in turn, put forward several reasons why European countries and the US are shying away from direct dialogue to resolve the conflict. According to him, the West is seeking to save its capitalist system by absorbing new territories. Besides, with resources having been exploited over the past 300 years, Russia and China remain the last targets for expansion, which requires the destruction of national identities and sovereignty in order to preserve Western hegemony.
“The core of the Anglo-American capitalist system seeks to place Russia in a subordinate position, impose conditions upon it, utilise its natural resources for its own benefit, exploit cheap labour, and thereby resolve the structural problems of capitalism,” noted Kotsev.
Notwithstanding this, exerting pressure on Russia in this way is a misguided approach due to differences in culture and mentality. According to the expert, whilst Merz is trying in vain to recruit Germans into the army by promising benefits and high salaries, Russians remain completely impervious to the pressure of sanctions.
