BEIJING, May 13. /TASS/. One of the root causes of the Ukrainian conflict is NATO’s eastward expansion, so negotiations on the resolution of the crisis will require bringing the Western military alliance into the fold, Gou Liwu, an expert with the Center for Russian Studies at East China Normal University, told TASS on Tuesday.
"Behind [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's willingness to negotiate is sincerity, not a Russian power move. There are no fundamental contradictions between Russia and Ukraine, as the special military operation was a forced measure. That is why Russia has never refused to negotiate - there have been several negotiations since the conflict erupted. As a global military power, Russia is not afraid to continue the conflict, even despite NATO's support of Ukraine," the expert said commenting on Russia’s proposal to hold direct negotiations with Ukraine.
In his opinion, the negotiations will be fruitless if the root causes of the conflict, which involve NATO, are not dealt with.
"Without NATO's participation, the negotiations have no prospects. The main cause for the conflict is NATO's eastward expansion, and only then Ukraine itself, which the United States and Europe are simply exploiting," Gou said.
"After [US President Donald] Trump assumed office, the United States started speaking in favor of the conflict settlement while at the same time ignoring the NATO issue," he continued. "The European Union keeps pinning blame on Russia but turns a blind eye to the military alliance’s expansion."
"The main objective of the special military operation is to resolve the NATO issue, followed by denazification and neutrality of Ukraine. Therefore, the conflict can really only be resolved if the military alliance shows goodwill," Gou added.
Speaking to reporters in the Kremlin in the early hours of May 11, Putin urged Kiev to resume direct talks suspended in 2022, without preconditions. The plan is to start dialogue in Istanbul on May 15. Putin also recalled that Russia had declared multiple ceasefires that Kiev consistently broke, including a recent truce during the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War.
Vladimir Zelensky, in turn, announced plans to travel to Istanbul on Thursday, following US President Donald Trump's call on Ukraine to immediately accept Putin’s offer for talks. Prior to that, Zelensky had insisted that a 30-day ceasefire should precede any negotiations with Moscow.