After Budanov's involvement in negotiations, russia loses on level of facts and specifics - Holobutskyi

Russia is losing the negotiation track on the level of facts and specifics and is no longer dictating terms, but is forced to "duck and weave" after the head of the President's Office, Kyrylo Budanov, joined the negotiations. Such thoughts were expressed by blogger and political expert Oleksii Holobutskyi.

"In any unclear situation, release Medinsky. putin decided to use this tactic. Because russia is losing the negotiation track. It is losing at the level of facts, specifics and arguments. The situation changed significantly after Kyrylo Budanov joined the Ukrainian delegation. Only the lazy did not notice how, with his arrival, the negotiations moved from the plane of propaganda narratives to the format of clear positions, security calculations, and substantive responsibility. Before that, even one of the most experienced people in russia, the head of the GRU, Igor Kostyukov, was allowed to participate in the negotiations," Holobutskyi wrote.

He noted that this did not help to "break" Budanov and the Ukrainian negotiating team as a whole, which did not surrender Ukraine's interests.

"Even a russian high-profile intelligence officer found it difficult to reconcile the real military situation in russia with fictional narratives and a constructed "parallel" reality. This is definitely not in the Kremlin's favor. Therefore, the Kremlin has now decided to follow the old pattern - it is reintroducing Vladimir Medinsky to the arena of the new round of talks in Geneva. A character designed not to negotiate, but to blur the meanings with historical myths and information noise," the blogger emphasized.

However, in his opinion, there is one nuance here: if earlier his participation mainly worked to delay the entire process and was focused on the domestic television effect in russia, now Medinsky's return has a much more specific and personalized goal.

"Moscow is trying to organize the degradation of the entire negotiation process and transfer it from the plane of security specifics to ideological polemics. Because when russia is not able to compete with the level of figures and the content of their positions, it simply tries to destroy their influence. And instead of competing, it essentially resorts to the tactic of imbalance," the political scientist stated.

This, he is convinced, is a direct attempt by putin to pull the ground from under Budanov's feet.

"Of course, nothing will come of it. So far, the systematic work of the GRU, established by Budanov, has successfully knocked the economy - oil and gas production, refining and transportation - out from under putin's feet. And there are still new sanctions to come. Strategically, the "medicalization" of the negotiation process means that russia no longer dictates the terms, but is forced to react and dodge. War is based on tricks, and it is thanks to the tricks of Budanov and the entire Ukrainian delegation that the enemy is once again in a situation where it is forced to catch up with our actions. This is another direct signal of the loss of russia's positions," Holobutskyi is sure.

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