Less than half an hr of talks on the margins of Manila's summit were adequate to remind us who was truly handing out cards on Ukraine. The head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrow and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met on Thursday, and the main subject was the end of the war. Is the future of east Europe decided again without east Europe?
The discussion took place on the margins of the ASEAN Regional Forum, an association of Southeast Asian countries hosted by the Philippines this year. Sergei Lavrow and Marco Rubio sat other each another in Manila on Thursday morning, around 8th Warsaw time, and the gathering lasted small more than half an hour. According to the Russian Ministry of Diplomacy, the initiative came from the American side this time. Short time did not mean trivial content, due to the fact that on the table was mainly war in Ukraine.
Moscow speaks of peace, setting conditions
The jury, according to its custom, presented Russia as a organization ready for the political and diplomatic end of the conflict. The Russian minister appealed to the spirit of talks with Anchorage, last year's Alaska Summit, and suggested that those arrangements inactive set the framework for a possible agreement. Immediately thereafter, he repeated the Kremlin's hard position: further deliveries of western weapons to Kiev were deemed unacceptable. It's a classical Moscow game that talks about peace and at the same time tries to cut off the assaulted man from his defense.
Washington wants the war to end.
The U.S. Secretary of State has adopted a balanced tone. Rubio made it clear that the United States would want the war to end, and added that specified a solution would besides be beneficial for Russia itself. He announced that Washington is willing to play a constructive function if there is simply a real chance of a deal. In practice, it is simply a signal that the American administration is inactive treating the direct channel with Moscow as a tool of force alternatively than a broken bridge.
The shadow of Alaska’s summit
Returning appeals to Anchorage are not random. Last year's Alaska meeting, despite the deficiency of a breakthrough, established a format for direct dialog between 2 powers over the heads of the remaining capitals. This is convenient for Russia, due to the fact that talking among the large players legitimizes its position and pushes both Kiev and Brussels to the background. Each next gathering at this level perpetuates the impression that the destiny of war is decided in a narrow office alternatively than on the front line.
Europe as a Viewer
And here comes the most crucial question from the Polish perspective. If they are negotiating about the end of the war just beyond our borders in tropical Manila Washington and Moscow, what is Europe's real role, including Poland. The continent, which bears the cost of the conflict, accepts refugees and defends itself in consequence to the Russian threat, is inactive treated as a spectator of individual else's gameplay. Until this changes, each half-hour gathering will sound like a reminder that the stakes are highest for those who are not at the table.
