'Russians prefer to sit at negotiating table and deal with Trump directly without involving Ukraine'

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00:00Let's get some analysis on this now. We can bring in Natia Siskuria, who's an associate

00:05fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a defence and security think tank. Great to

00:11have you on the programme, Natia. Thanks so much for joining us. So, the Kremlin spokesperson,

00:16Dmitry Peskov, said today that Zelensky's words, him saying that he's ready to set the

00:21negotiating table, can't be taken as anything but empty words. Can we take this as an unwillingness

00:29from Russia to join peace talks?

00:34Good evening. Thank you very much for having me. Yes, indeed, we see that there is definitely

00:39a change in rhetoric when it comes to Zelensky's standing with regards to peace negotiations.

00:45However, we can say the same about the Russian viewpoint. As you mentioned, Dmitry Peskov

00:53has been very much sceptical about the prospect of these peace talks involving Zelensky, claiming

01:00that he is not legitimate, something that Putin has reiterated many times before. And

01:05I suppose, given these statements, treating Zelensky as an illegitimate president of Ukraine,

01:13this does not really demonstrate and show the willingness exactly from the Russian side

01:18to negotiate. I think what Russians really prefer right now is to sit down at the negotiation

01:24table and deal with President Trump directly without involving Ukraine and deciding the

01:30fate of Ukraine without President Zelensky and the Ukrainian side having much say in

01:36this.

01:37And Zelensky in that interview yesterday said that he considers Putin an enemy. He also

01:42said that he believes the Russian president probably considers him as well as an enemy.

01:49Him then saying that he's still willing to sit at the negotiating table, which will be

01:53him sitting opposite Putin, that really shows that he's very, very keen to have peace, isn't

01:59it?

02:00Absolutely. He mentioned that him speaking to Putin directly is a concession itself.

02:06And he's right. I mean, he should be treating Putin as enemy. And it's unlikely that Putin

02:15will treat him otherwise as well. But Zelensky is being very realistic at the same time,

02:22I guess, because he sees, he mentioned actually during this interview that the support that

02:28is provided by Ukraine's partners is insufficient for Ukraine to push back and to possibly regain

02:36territories that Russians are currently occupying. There is also a mood swing in Ukraine as well,

02:42and we see that more people are actually supporting a ceasefire. And this once again demonstrates,

02:50I guess, to Zelensky that it is time to maybe, as he mentioned, end the hot stage of the war.

02:57And at the same time, he knows that the geopolitical situation is not giving Ukraine

03:03much momentum. And obviously, the approach of the current US administration is much different

03:09from the previous one.

03:11Natalia, I just want to circle in on what you mentioned a bit earlier, talking about

03:15the lack of supplies that Zelensky has been complaining about. Today, we had the Kremlin

03:19slam Zelensky's comments, him saying that, suggesting that Ukraine should be allowed

03:24to have a nuclear deterrent if it's unable to join NATO. Having nuclear weapons in Ukraine's

03:32arsenal could really escalate things, couldn't it?

03:36I don't really think that this is something that Ukraine's partners are currently discussing

03:44in terms of any sort of, in terms of providing, in terms of it being an element when it comes

03:52to providing Ukraine security guarantees. Obviously, the question of security guarantees

03:59is very serious. But I think NATO allies and as well as, of course, the United States

04:04would be very much cautious and reluctant to give Russia a reason to say that NATO is

04:12trying to escalate the war. And nuclear weapons have always been part of Russian rhetoric,

04:18part of Russian threats. And I don't really think that there is a reason to believe that

04:24the West would try to somehow use this as part of its leverage on the negotiation table.

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