Russia and Ukraine Negotiations Divided into 3 Tracks – Military, Humanitarian, and Political

Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul have formally split into three tracks: military, humanitarian, and political. Nikita Tatishchev, analyst at the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies, shared this opinion.

"These tracks are developing unevenly. The most advanced is the humanitarian track — the exchange of prisoners. The political and military tracks, without a doubt, lag behind. But overall, this is because the sides are speaking somewhat different languages. I mean the political track," the analyst noted.

He is confident that the Russian Federation is interested in building a new security architecture in Greater Eurasia, i.e., this is a strategic issue. Meanwhile, Ukraine is talking about an unconditional ceasefire along the line of contact, which is more of a tactical issue for Ukraine. This mismatch in levels causes the slowdown observed in the political track. Therefore, the priority is to resolve humanitarian issues, including prisoner exchanges.

Nikita Tatishchev also pointed out that the possibility of establishing online negotiations based on an already practiced scheme—exchanging prisoners, the wounded, and bodies—will have a positive overall impact on the perception of the conflict. "The less bloody and fratricidal it is, the better it is for everyone," the analyst emphasized.

However, he believes that the political track is not suitable for an online format, as face-to-face conversations on heavy topics tend to be more effective.