Not To Trust, To Verify, and To Speak |
What have the 2025 negotiations between Russia and the US taught us about the art of diplomacy?
There is no accounting for frameworks
One of the events in 2025 that sparked the greatest interest and left the most substantial informational footprint was the series of negotiations between Russia and the US. They could be perceived as a new object of study in the field of international relations, which pertains to diplomacy and the methods it uses. What have these contacts on the most acute issues between the two powers revealed to us in terms of negotiation peculiarities and from the point of view of diplomacy as a science in general?
There are several fundamental points. First, it must be noted that in high-profile international conflicts, each “couple” of negotiating countries is a unique case. It will look different every time, albeit with subtle variations and innovations, unlike previous instances. It is impossible to fully replicate Henry Kissinger’s “shuttle diplomacy” or force completely different stories with different actors into its “template.” Neither is it possible to think and act exactly like Andrey A. Gromyko, Charles de Talleyrand, or Alexander S. Griboyedov. Each diplomatic and negotiation narrative has its own pattern, its own course, its own factors. Therefore, any attempt at creating a generalized classification of these processes is doomed to highly debatable results.
Duo faciunt collegium
Without delving into theoretical thickets or trying to crossbreed a snake with a hedgehog, let us move to the second distinctive feature, which could have been tracked quite easily. The intrigue of the Russia-US negotiations resided in the fact that not only statesmen or diplomats were pushed to the forefront – business........