Conversation will not be easy – Sergey Stankevich on Witkoff’s visit to Moscow

Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Sergey Stankevich commented on the upcoming meeting between Donald Trump’s special envoy Steven Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as the parallel visit of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to Brussels and his talks with representatives of the European Union.

“Well, first of all, no final decisions will be made. Witkoff is coming for consultations, many of which will remain confidential. It is clear that there will be an attempt to coordinate with Moscow the peace plan of Donald Trump, which was shaped in discussions with Kyiv and with Europe. That peace plan, in its current version that Steven Witkoff will bring, will inevitably contain provisions categorically unacceptable to Moscow. On this subject, of course, the conversation will be heavy and difficult. The most important outcome to expect from tomorrow’s meeting is that Moscow will instead inform Witkoff—and through him, Trump—of the conditions under which it intends to move forward diplomatically—and if diplomacy fails, then with the use of military force. President Putin made this point very clear just recently in Bishkek,” Stankevich said.

According to Stankevich, relations between Armenia and Europe are more rhetorical than substantive, and there are clear reasons for this.

“As for this sort of ‘romance’ between Armenia and the European Union, I don’t see any prospects for it to turn into something serious—there are simply no geopolitical grounds for it, and Europe lacks the material resources. Europe is currently struggling to scrape together funds to support Ukraine, which is its top priority. It will not be able to enter into any other serious projects in the coming years. Let’s not forget that it also intends to carry out a major rearmament. So there will be many political statements, quite possibly complimentary toward Yerevan, but no real integration is on the horizon,” the expert concluded.