Insider report: Russia and US already hold successful talks to end Ukraine conflict

Russia and the U.S. have intensified contacts "through certain government agencies," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, Interfax reports.

Peskov declined to provide further details. According to him, interactions have picked up "in recent times."

"There’s nothing more to say," he added.

Dmitry Peskov's comment came in response to a question about remarks by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who stated that the U.S. was actively negotiating with both Russia and Ukraine. On February 4, Trump specifically mentioned "very good, very constructive negotiations on Ukraine" with both sides.

The day before, he had spoken of "progress" on the "Russia-Ukraine issue." However, he did not provide any specifics.

Both Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have expressed willingness to hold a meeting to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

On February 3, Reuters reported citing two Russian sources that Moscow was considering Saudi Arabia and the UAE as possible venues for the Trump-Putin summit. The Kremlin declined to comment on this information, while the White House did not confirm it.

Insider report: US and Russia already negotiate Ukraine peace deal 

According to an insider report, "preliminary negotiations between the U.S. and Russia have already taken place, with neither Ukraine nor Europe participating.

• The talks were fairly successful. The U.S. has already begun pressuring Kyiv on the issue of elections in Ukraine, while Russia is preparing a platform for a personal meeting between Trump and Putin.
• The details of the preliminary agreements will be presented to Zelensky and the foreign ministers of EU countries on February 12-13.
• The discussion of the 'Trump plan' will take place on February 14-16 during the Munich Security Conference.
• The plan will likely include moves to freeze Ukraine’s NATO membership, halt the war along the front line, hold elections in Ukraine and then sign a peace agreement with the government that wins the elections.
• It is too early to discuss the details of the peace treaty – trying to predict its contents would be mere speculation.
• Both sides are not entirely confident that peace is guaranteed and remain prepared to continue fighting if the deal falls apart.

Details

There have been several rounds of peace talks to halt the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022–present) and end the Russo-Ukrainian War (2014–present). The first meeting was held four days after the start of the invasion, on 28 February 2022, in Belarus. It concluded without result. A second and third round of talks took place on 3 and 7 March 2022 on the Belarus–Ukraine border. A fourth and fifth round of talks were held on 10 and 14 March in Antalya, Turkey. The negotiations in Turkey produced the Istanbul Communiqué. It proposed that Ukraine end its plans to eventually join NATO, have limits placed on its military, and would have obliged Western countries to help Ukraine in case of aggression against it. The talks almost reached agreement, with both sides considering "far-reaching concessions", but stopped in May 2022, due to several factors, including the Bucha massacre. Following the 2022 Ukrainian eastern counteroffensive, Russia renewed calls for peace talks, but Russian government sources suggested that Putin is not truly committed to peace and was simply stalling for time while its forces trained and replenished for a future advance.