The Duran Podcast - Complicated Geneva talks. Ukraine trusteeship plan

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Complicated Geneva talks. Ukraine trusteeship plan

All right, Alexander, let's talk about the negotiations that are taking place today in Geneva, and Whitkoff Kushner will be there. On the Russian side, you have Medinsky, who has been the chief negotiator, according to Peskov throughout the entire process, even the Abu Dhabi process. But he did not show up in Abu Dhabi because the discussions were mostly focused on security issues. This time around, he will be in Geneva as the lead negotiator. And on the Ukrainian side, you have Umerov, I believe, who will be leading the negotiations. After the negotiations in Geneva, at least for the U.S. delegation, they will then be negotiating on Iran.

So Wittkov Kushner are negotiating with the Russians and the Ukrainians, and then they will be negotiating with the Iranians. Quite a busy day for it with Koffing Kushner. Anyway, what are your thoughts? Well, let's start with the last point. I mean, what you've just described, once the same set of negotiators conducting one high-level negotiation with a power like Russia and then running off and conducting another high-level set of negotiations with a power like Iran, both on the same day, is, I mean, it's borderline absurd. I mean, even if Whitgoth and Kushner were the best negotiators in the world, even if they were massively experienced in these sort of things,

if they were respectively Napoleon and Hercules, I mean, it's just asking too much. You can't possibly conduct effective negotiations at this kind of level on the same day with two completely different parties about, a major war. And apparently, the reason these discussions are taking place in Geneva at all, the Ukrainians didn't want to go to Geneva, the Russians didn't want to go to Geneva, the Ukrainians wanted to have the meeting in Miami, the Russians preferred Abu Dhabi or Istanbul. But the reason these discussions are taking place in Geneva is to enable

Witkoff and Kushner to shuttle from one level of talks to another. Now, if we are going to assume some degree of rationality to all of this, that strongly suggests that whatever's going to happen today in Geneva and tomorrow, because the talks are going to continue tomorrow, what's going to happen is not going to be any big diplomatic breakthrough and perhaps not even a particularly serious negotiation, at least not one involving the United States, it's going to be a mostly bilateral meeting between the Russians and the Ukrainians. And that takes us back to your other point about Peskov, saying that Medinsky has been the chief negotiator all along. Because what the Russians are saying is that

every single meeting that has taken place between the Ukrainians and the Russians, starting in February 2022, has been part of a single set of negotiations, which were, by the way, initiated by Zelensky, in which Medinsky has been consistently the chief Russian negotiator. So the initial negotiations, the first part of these continuing negotiations led in April 2022 to the draft agreement that was initialed in Istanbul in April 2022, but which was never taken through to completion. The second part of these negotiations was the one that took place in the summer, again in Istanbul. again, Medinsky running those negotiations, taking the deal that was done in Istanbul or almost done in Istanbul, from the Russian point of view, as the starting point. Remember, we talk about Istanbul plus.

And that particular set of negotiations was then interrupted again by the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians said in the autumn of last year that the negotiations were going nowhere, that they were only prepared to talk about ceasefire, that they were not prepared to talk about any of the things that the Russians wanted to talk about, which is things like rights of Russians in Ukraine, NATO, demilitarization, all of that kind of thing, that Ukraine therefore had decided to call off the process that had taken place in Istanbul in the summer, entirely, and that there would be no further negotiations under that format. And what the Russians are now again saying is that that format still exists. Whatever the Ukrainians may have said

in the autumn is completely irrelevant, and it is beside the point. The meetings that took place in Abu Dhabi were part of the work of a working party, a security working party, within the framework of the negotiations that took place both in 2022 and in 2025 in Istanbul, the Russians actually proposed the setting up of such a working party in the summer of 2025. And now the moment has come to return to the main format and to resume the talks where they were left off in the summer. with Medinsky coming back with the same negotiating team. So this time the foreign ministry is represented. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzid, a notable hardliner, by the way,

and somebody who has said that the right way forward is for Ukraine to be placed under foreign trusteeship. And the Russians are saying that this is a proposal that they're going to bring up in Geneva today. Anyway, that negotiating team that the Russians have, is coming back and that the talks that were interrupted by Zelensky in Istanbul are resuming again. Now, that is what the Russians are saying. Of course, it's not what the Ukrainians are saying, and the Americans weren't there either in the 2022 talks or in the 2025 talks.

But it is the approach to the talks that the Russians are taking. So what are the Americans going to do during these talks since they were not present in the previous talks? What's their role in all of this outside of Ukraine being their proxy puppet? Obviously, Ukraine is their proxy. Talks between Russia and the United States is really what this is all about. Absolutely. But okay, a continuation of 2022 and the other talks is how the Russians are framing it. So what's with Koff and Kushner there to do?

Well, indeed, as far as I can see, they're there to do pretty much nothing. I say that because I come back to the point that they're shuffling from one negotiation to another. Nobody, nobody can seriously conduct a negotiation like that of this guy in that kind of way. I mean, to me, that makes absolutely no sense at all. So I think that what has basically happened is that the Americans have. have told the Ukrainians, there has to be a negotiation. You can't stay away from these talks with the Russians.

And to make sure that you are there and that the negotiations that took place in the summer are resumed, we are going to be there as well. So that's partly what is happening. Now of course, Kushner Witgolf are going to run off and are going to talk to the Iranians. one wonders what that negotiation is going to be like. But there will still be Americans in the room because apparently Driscoll and Grinkiewicz, the army secretary and the US, the American General, who is in command of NATO forces in Europe, they are going to remain in the meeting and they will be there throughout the meeting today and throughout the meeting tomorrow. So that is

probably the real negotiation. It's going to be over the heads of the Ukrainians between the Americans and the Russians. And it's going to be with the Russians coming this time with political representatives, Medinsky and Galuzin. By the way, Kostakov, the military intelligence chief who ran the talks in Abu Dhabi is also there. He's going to be there. And Dimitriyev, by the way, we didn't mention that either. But he's going to be on a separate track, they said. He's going to be on a second track. An economic, economic business track.

He's not going to be in the, you see, this is, again, what's so bizarre. He's apparently not going to be in the same room. So he's going to be in a completely different place. The Ukrainians and the Russians in one room are going to be talking about the Ukraine conflict. Dmitrieff is going to be meeting, presumably with Witgolf, presumably be a very short meeting, to discuss economic questions. I mean, the whole thing is absolutely bizarre.

It is, to me, it looks like a complete mess. It's going to be all sorts of people running negotiations with each other. It's not so much parallel tracks. It's overcomplicated tracks. It's perhaps worth saying that the Russians did propose a second working party in the summer which would focus on economic issues. And presumably that's part of Dimitriette's role. But as I said, the way this is being conducted looks chaotic and completely unstructured.

But the Russians are playing along with it. Well, they agreed. They agreed to go along with this. And not only did they agree, they agreed to the U.S.'s demands on the location, Geneva. So they flew to Europe. Yes. Yes. Europe, which is in a war with Russia, right?

Yeah. In a proxy war, in a proxy war with Russia, Europe. To meet with the United States, which is in a proxy war with Europe. And we're talking about an eight-hour flight, too. They had to go all the way around. You might understand Italy actually granted the Russians access to their airspace. But the Russian plate did not want to fly through the Eastern Europe. into Switzerland out of fear that the Eastern European countries might actually do something to the plane.

Yeah. Think about that. It's crazy. I know. It is crazy. Putin agreed to it. Well, the Americans actually sent the Swiss foreign minister, Ignacio Cassius, to Moscow, to actually get them to agree. and apparently to make all sorts of provisions for arranging this meeting. Again, the whole thing is absolutely zany at multiple levels, but there it is.

The one thing I must say is that Zelensky isn't happy to have a meeting set up in this format. It's a format which he said last year he was walking away from. and was closing down. And nonetheless, the format has been reconstructed in the way that the Russians proposed back in the summer, except that it's taking place in Geneva rather than in Turkey. The reason, by the way, it's not taking place in Turkey is because there had to be the simultaneous meeting with the Iranians,

and the Iranians absolutely refused to meet the Americans in Turkey. How come the Iranians didn't want to meet in Oman, like the last meeting? Well, they did want to meet in Amman. Why Geneva? The Americans didn't want Amman. Well, I mean, you know, why the Americans didn't want Amman? Who knows? But the Ammani foreign minister is also going to be in Geneva.

I mean, again, it gets more. Why Geneva then? What's the reason for the Americans pushing for Geneva? Well, I'm going to make it. There is a simple reason, actually, which is that every, the facilities. The conference facilities in Geneva, which has been the major place for international negotiations, going all the way back to the 1920s, are unrivaled. You have all of the secure communications lines, you have the right numbers of hotels,

you have, if you even want to have them, even more elaborate conference facilities there. I mean, Geneva has been the traditional location for negotiations of this kind for, well, almost a century. So it's probably more comfortable and secure and easier to conduct multiple negotiations in Geneva than it would be in Oman or Istanbul or in any of those other places. Not more comfortable for the Russians. Well, their flight seems pretty grueling. Yeah, well, maybe. A two hour flight that actually took nine hours.

Well, and a two-hour flat, which actually takes nine. I mean, they do have, but the Russians do have some of the best facilities in Geneva of anybody. I mean, they have apparently a massive embassy there. And they also have all kinds of other guest houses and things of that kind and conference facilities, which, again, they acquired by the way during the Second World War. So it does have all of those. facilities, which are man and Turkey done, just to say. Right.

So what's the trustee-shap plan that the foreign ministry is floating out there? The Russian foreign ministry. The Russian foreign ministry, the Zeletsky is unconstitutional, that he is illegal, that he can't be trusted to conduct elections. So some third party, perhaps the UN, must step in, take over the running of Ukraine until elections, proper elections are held and then as a result of those elections, a proper government can then appear which can then move forward and negotiate peace. That was the proposal and that was made by Galuzim, the man who is there representing

the foreign ministry in these talks. That was made by him just before the meeting started. Of course, the Ukrainians are going to reject that out of hand. And I don't know whether the Americans will be interested, I suspect not. So, according to Peskov, we should not be expecting any statements after this first day of meetings. And the Russian delegation is going to meet again tomorrow and then they're going to leave tomorrow. But I imagine by the time this video gets published later on today, there will be leaks from the U.S. side of things. people familiar with the matter that the collective West media always likes to cite,

they will come out with statements discussing or talking about what was discussed at these talks, the gossip of what was going on at these talks. That's the routine that we should expect. Absolutely. So the Russians will say nothing because they always do. They see the information space to. the Americans, something they have always done, all the way going back far into the early years of the Cold War. And we will have the usual rumours from our old friends, the

anonymous officials, probably in this case, which go from Cushner. They're the obvious anonymous officials. And they will give a positive spin to whatever it was that was being discussed. Now, we should be very careful about this. But I'm going to say this. There is an intrigue about these whole discussions. The Russians are going back to Geneva. They're going to these talks and they are saying that they are going to insist on implementation of what Putin and Trump agreed in Anchorage. Now, the point is we have never been told exactly by anybody what it was exactly that Putin and Trump agreed in Anchorage. The Americans have never told us that anything was agreed in Anchorage, other than the fact that Trump came out of the meeting and said that there

had to be a final settlement and he accepted that there wouldn't be an interim ceasefire. By the way, he then walked that back in the next couple of months and then he came back. A couple of days. A couple of days. And then, and then, and then shortly after he came back and he said that he did support that after all, but then of course with Trump, he might change his views on this all over again from one day to the next. But anyway, the Russians still insist that there was some kind of agreement in Anchorage. They say that before the Anchorage meeting, Witkoff came to Moscow.

He had a written document with him from Trump, setting out some sort of proposal. The Russians had some concerns about some of the ideas there. But it was something that they could work with and live with. And they went to Anchorage and they told Trump that they were prepared to accept it and to work on that basis. And Trump and Whitkov seemed to be nodding their heads and say yes. And the Russians have been complaining ever since that thereafter this proposal went nowhere. Now, the Russians on the eve of this meeting, their deputy foreign minister, Riyarbakov, gave a long interview. He said that they go to insist on the implementation of this agreement.

Now, I have completely unable to work out what this agreement actually was. And amazingly, we've had no leaks about it. No leaks on the American side. No leaks on the Russian side. We have had some reports speculating as to what this was. We have talked about in the past. I mean, and even Putin has commented in a way that suggests the agreements in Alaska are no longer valid when he addressed Donetsk in the statement that he made saying, you know, the whole Donets thing that we were discussing with the United States, well, we're going to capture Donetsk sooner or later. So it's not really valid to have Donetsk as part of the negotiation. we've moved on. That was pretty much his message. But I do believe that in Alaska, there was some speculation saying that it was the territory of Dornetsk, Ukraine military leaving Donbass, Donetsk entirely. There were some ideas floated out there about a free economic zone or something

like that, which Russia had rejected. And then there was the issue of the South and Zaporosia and the ZNPP, and some speculation that a concession the Russians made. And I'm saying these are rumors, but the speculation was that the concession the Russians made was to freeze the contact line in Zaporosje, and that would get resolved later in Russia's favor, according to the Russian Constitution. And I believe Lavrov hinted at something along those lines. The fact that Putin, if these reports are true, Alexander, the fact that Putin is still sticking with Alaska is incredible, if you want my opinion. Yes. The trouble with all of that is that, as you absolutely rightly say, these are rumors and speculations. There's supposed to be a

document. There is supposed to be a document which set out a proposal that Witkoff took with I'm not supposed to be. There is not supposed to be. There is a document. I mean, Lavrov says there is a document that Witkov brought with him to Moscow. And we've never had any sign of it. The Russians say they have it, but they've never obviously produced it because they never do. No one in Washington has provided us with even a snippet of it. It's not appeared in Bloomberg. It's not deployed in the New York Times. And all of the things you're saying, Absolutely. There's been these speculations, these rumors. But there's never been an actual, shall we say, a proper leak that this is really so, that there was an agreement in Alaska to do any of these things, to freeze the front lines, even for a certain period in Zaporosia and Herson, and to revisit the topic of the Zaporosia nuclear power plant. Now, the Russian have recently said, absolutely categorically, that there is no issue about this upper-Oggia nuclear power plant.

It is Russian. It is not up for discussion. So that seems to contradict at least some of those rumors. As for the freeze on the front lines, again, Lavrov has sort of hinted at this or might have hinted at this, but other Russian officials, including Lavrov. himself have talked as if no such agreement was ever made. So, and in all other respects, the Russians and Riyabkof himself came along and said once again that it has to address the root causes.

There has to be issues about, you know, the situation of the Russian speakers in Ukraine, the Orthodox Church, NATO membership, Ukraine's non-aligned status. That must all be resolved. And the Russians are now definitely, by the way, linking all of this to the question of a renegotiation of the security architecture in Europe. Ryabkov said it. Galuzid said it. I think there is no doubt about this. So this is what the Russians say. But there is this mystery about what exactly. this agreement in Anchorage was. And I wonder whether the Russians talking about something which they think they agreed with the Americans, whether the Americans ever really, in their own minds, agreed anything like that. It crystallized any such agreement with the Russians.

And then there's the other mystery. I don't see mystery or intrigue, which is about security guarantees for Ukraine, because the Americans have clearly been negotiating with the Ukrainians about security guarantees for Ukraine. These security guarantees involve deploying European troops in Western Ukraine, all of these things. The Russians continue to say, this is completely out of the question. And the Russians are now saying that they have not been shown any of the documents that the Americans and the Europeans and the Ukrainians have exchanged with each other. And the Americans, when they came to Moscow in January, you remember there was this second meeting, this visit by Witkoff and Kushner to Moscow on the 23rd of January when they met Putin there.

They didn't bring any document, any document like that with them. And apparently there was rather a heated meeting between Putin and the Americans over this. We now know that this was a heated meeting, but not just Ushakov, but other Russian officials have said that. And again, I wonder whether this is another issue that the Russians want to talk about in Geneva and whether this isn't also one of the major reasons why they're sending a stronger delegation this time. I'm going to suggest that a third reason why they are sending a stronger delegation is that over the next few weeks, they're going to see all the indications are that they're

going to begin what will probably be their final offensive to capture Donbass. If they do capture Donbass, what then? What is the left really to negotiate about? And if we go back to Zelensky, he's refusing to agree to anything. He's refusing to withdraw from Dombas. He's refusing to move from any territories. He's insisting that he must get the security guarantee from the Americans first before he agrees to anything else. The Americans are refusing to do that. It's very difficult to see how any of these pieces can be brought together and how we can move forward with any of this at the present time. Well, Zelensky is claiming that the security guarantees are 100% complete.

Even Whitkoff, I believe it the last meeting that Whitkoff had in Paris with the Europeans there, Wittkoff also stated that the security guarantee negotiations are pretty much wrapped up with Ukraine. Though we don't know exactly what they say, but Zelensky is also saying that Ukraine, is going to get security guarantees from the United States. And the United States is saying that they are ready to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, contingent on an agreement for a ceasefire where the Russians are saying there's going to be no ceasefire. I mean, how do you bring all of these things together? Because it's all chaotic. It's completely chaotic stuff going on, chaotic negotiations.

Everyone has signed up to them. I mean, let's not blame Trump or the United States. States. Everyone has agreed to these chaotic negotiations. Everyone signed up to all of this. The way you bring it together is very simple. The United States says this is how we're going to do it. And Ukraine cannot argue with the United States. Zelensky cannot argue with the United States. The Europeans cannot argue with the United States. If the United States did say this is the deal, Istanbul plus, Alaska, whatever, whatever, Geneva. whatever they agree on, if the United States agrees to it and says, this is how it's going to be, there is not one leader, not one person, not one organization, military in the collective

west or in Ukraine that will be able to say no to the United States. Just today, we had more drones from Ukraine hitting Russia and from Russia hitting Ukraine. Of course, the United States is providing the satellite and the targeting for all of this to. it to happen. United States, NATO, call it whatever you want. It's the United States. So, I mean, the way you bring this all together is if the United States really wanted to solve this, they would just solve it. Yes. But they don't. So we go back to a video we made last week where we said everyone is trying to string everyone else along. The Russians think they're stringing the Americans along. The Americans think they're stringing the Russians along. Everyone's trying

to string everyone else along because they feel that time is on their side. And they can win this thing if they string the other party along. Indeed, absolutely. That's exactly. And that's where we're coming going to come to. Now, I get to say this. If there was an unlimited amount of time, the way this would probably ultimately evolve would be like the Paris talks, which I often referenced, the ones that took place in the 1960s and the 1970s, which involved the United States,

North Vietnam and South Vietnam, over time, those evolved into a bilateral negotiation between North Vietnam and the United States. The North Vietnamese and the Americans sorted it out between them. It took, well, I think it took something like six years. Six years. We don't have six years in this conflict. And if you go back to the Paris talks again, and people don't know this, but the first six months of the Paris talks were unbelievably chaotic. They couldn't even agree on where everybody would sit at the table. So, I mean, it was everybody as muddled in some ways as this was, though the quality of

the negotiators, and I have to say this, certainly on the American side, was much, much higher. So, but the point is we don't have six years to resolve this thing. And unless somebody's going to suddenly give, it does look like an exercise in stringing along and letting the situation play out with these negotiations, even though events will probably work out on the battlefield. Because I can't see how else they can do. On the question of security guarantees, the Ukrainians say that it's all agreed. The Americans sort of suggest that it's all agreed. The Americans say that the Americans won't sign the security guarantees until the fighting ends. The Russians say there are no security guarantees because only security guarantees must first be negotiated with us.

and we are not prepared to stop until there is a complete agreement. So that complete agreement must include security guarantees. And the security guarantees must be not just for Ukraine, but for Russia itself as part of a general renegotiation of the security architecture of Europe. How can that be done in a few weeks? How can you agree all of that? In a few weeks, it's impossible. As I said, if you had six years, perhaps you'd get there. And that would require goodwill and good negotiators, and it would require shuttle meetings,

and it would require people like Kissinger and people like that to conduct the negotiations, and it would require back channels. I don't think you've created six years. I'm not even sure it will see this year out. And another Russian official, a parliamentarian, who is the head of the Duma's defense committee, so a very well-informed one, so that the only way that Ukraine can win this war, the only way Ukraine can win this war, is by becoming part of Russia. Trump said on Air Force One that Ukraine should come to the table quick. They should agree to something very quick. That was what Trump told reporters. Yes. Well, perhaps for once, he'll change his mind tomorrow.

Exactly. He'll change his mind tomorrow. But that's the point if Trump really wanted to end this. Yes. He could end it. The United States, Trump, the United States could end this conflict tomorrow if they really wanted to. Exactly. Anyway, we'll have to wait and see how this plays out.

As I said, the whole thing does at the moment have a zane equality. and that should not be overlooked. As everything has been structured around Whitgolfs and Kushner's timetable in a very bizarre way. By the way, I mean, the other thing about Geneva is that the food presumably is better there. Just to say, much better than Elman, I'm guessing. But anyway, I mean, I don't know. There's all the nice restaurants and all the nice places that people can go. It's where the globalist elite hang out, I guess.

Exactly. Exactly. We know about those globalists elite, though. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, you can drink your alcohol and have your cocktail parties, and there's all sorts of nice restaurants, and there's all sorts of other things you can do in Geneva as well, you're minded to. And, you know, don't underestimate that. They love their cocktail parties, the Europeans, absolutely. The Europeans, actually, and Zelensky's complaining about this, bitterly, are not invited. Why should they? Why should they be invited? Why should they be invited?

They should not be invited. I mean, period. I mean, last year they were insisting that they should be participating. But even that has not dropped. Who would be able to sit down at the table for these negotiations? Okay, Whitkoff and Kushner granted. They're not the right people to negotiate high-level diplomatic talks. but at least Whitkoff and Kushner could speak with Dimitriyev on the business stuff. I imagine those are the real negotiations, if you want in my opinion.

I think the real negotiations are between Dimitriev and Whitkoff, so they can figure out ways to make money. That's my sense of things. I think all the other stuff is the sideshow. But who would the Europeans send to a negotiation on these topics in Geneva? Who? Ursula, Kayakales, Macaron, Alexander Stewart. Who would they send?

Back in December, back in December, Maloney and Macron proposed appointing a negotiator to negotiate on behalf of Europe with the Russian. And they're not agreed on anybody. They said Draghi, Stubb. Macron himself is very keen to fill that role. Macron, by the way, and Mertz are not talking to each other at the moment. They despise each other, yeah. They despise each other, but also, Matt's taking it very badly, that Macross supposedly betrayed him about stealing Russia's asset.

Right. All of that. So, I mean, you know, there's all this going on in the background. The Europeans aren't at the table. They can't even get themselves organized. So obviously they shouldn't be at the table. Just saying. All right.

We'll add the video there. The durand.com. We're on X, we're on Telegram, we're on Rumble. Go to the Duran Shop, pick up some merch, and also check us out on Substack as well. Yeah. Take care.