We’re returning to the ‘spirit of Anchorage’ again: Alexey Mukhin

Alexey Mukhin, political scientist, commented to Alpha News on the talks between the presidents of the US and Russia.

“There’s no point right now in discussing whatever leaks are happening. Based on the outcome, what impression emerges from the visit of Jared Kushner and Steven Witkoff? There’s been a very significant expansion of actors in the negotiation process.

And considering that Anton Siluanov even discussed certain things with Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, the negotiation process has really moved onto a very interesting track here.

But so far, as of now, all sides are preparing for a protracted conflict. Although they are ready to talk about a peace agreement, that’s a fact.

On the positive side, I would note that the parties are preparing to work out new modalities for the negotiation process. That gives some cause for optimism.

But we, the Russian side, need an adequate response from Kyiv and the coalition of the willing, within the bounds of common sense, rather than the ‘wish lists’ they proposed before, which led to the breakdown of the negotiation process.

At this stage, as a result of the so-called ‘deep strikes,’ Russia clearly has no moral restrictions on striking Kyiv. And indeed, strikes are being carried out. They will continue to be carried out going forward, because Russia has made clear it is ready for an escalation of the conflict despite the start of the negotiation process. If anyone, the United States, or the coalition of the willing and Kyiv, thought the start of the negotiation process would be accompanied by a decrease in the intensity of strikes on Ukraine, that is not going to happen,” Mukhin believes.

According to the Alpha News source, the negotiation process has returned to the period of the Putin-Trump meeting in Alaska, and a practical way to move it forward would be to start with regular air service between the two countries.

“It’s obvious that the US, in this case, is trying, on one hand, to launch this kind of manipulative mediation. But Trump, in his conversation with Putin, said clearly that yes, he is prepared, not for a truce, but for a Minsk-type agreement. I congratulate everyone, as a result, we’re once again returning to the notorious ‘spirit of Anchorage.’

There are still certain issues around restoring economic relations between Russia and the US, but there are doubts here. I believe, this is my opinion, that there’s no need to dig a tunnel under the Bering Strait, since that’s expensive and takes a long time; it would be enough, at least for now, to simply restore direct air service between the US and Russia. That’s the best way to demonstrate seriousness of intent,” the expert concluded.