Former U.S. ambassador to Russia: "Putin will never make concessions; negotiations with him are impossible."

Negotiations, in the Western sense—true negotiations based on mutual trust and a genuine search for compromises—are impossible with Putin and the Kremlin.

John Sullivan, the U.S. ambassador to Moscow during Donald Trump and Joe Biden's administrations from 2020 to 2022, stated this in a podcast with BBC.

“Don’t get me wrong: we need to talk to the Russians, we need to lay out our positions. And importantly, we need to listen to what they are saying to us, but this is not negotiations! What does Putin say? What compromises is he willing to make? None! He will never concede on his military objectives, namely the ‘denazification and demilitarization’ of Ukraine,” Sullivan said.

“And Ukraine is just the beginning,” he emphasized.

According to the former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Putin might agree to a ceasefire if the situation on the front forces him to seek a respite, but it would only be a pause.

“If you think about negotiations with him in the way we in the West understand negotiations, you are headed for failure,” the American diplomat firmly stated.

John Sullivan is an American statesman and political figure, not related to White House advisor Jake Sullivan. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Russia from January 16, 2020, to September 4, 2022.

He was the Deputy Secretary of State from 2017 to 2019.

According to American media, John Sullivan was included in an unofficial list of State Department employees deemed disloyal to the president and recommended for dismissal, compiled by Donald Trump’s entourage.