US and Russian militaries to resume high-level talks

The US and Russian militaries are resuming high-level talks after more than four years, which could be a step towards normalising relations between Washington and Moscow.

The US military announced the dialogue would be resumed on Thursday at the conclusion of the second round of Ukraine peace talks between Washington, Kyiv and Moscow in Abu Dhabi.

“The US and Russian Federation agreed today in Abu Dhabi to reestablish high-level military-to-military dialogue,” US European Command, which oversees American military operations in Europe, announced.

The channel between the two militaries was suspended in 2021 during Joe Biden’s administration as tensions between Washington and Moscow grew because of Russia’s build-up of forces ahead of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“This channel will provide a consistent military-to-military contact as the parties continue to work towards a lasting peace,” Eucom said in a statement.

The agreement came after Eucom commander General Alexus Grynkewich, who is also Nato’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), met with senior Russian and Ukrainian officials on the sidelines of the peace talks in Abu Dhabi.

Jim Townsend, a former US deputy assistant secretary of defence for European and Nato policy, says high-level military-to-military talks are always positive. “They bring about good things, even while the political side might be throwing bricks at each other,” he said.

But he described the re-establishment of the dialogue as “contradictory” because “it brings Russia back into the family of nations, if you will, by having some normalcy” despite its war against Ukraine.

Despite the suspension of the military-to-military dialogue, talks between the US and Russian armed forces did not completely end. Then-defence secretary Lloyd Austin held multiple calls with Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, as well as his successor Andrei Belousov during the remainder of the Biden administration.

Eucom said that as commander of SACEUR, Grynkewich already had the authority to maintain a dialogue with General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of the general staff.

Nato and Moscow had their first direct military encounter since Russia’s full-scale invasion last autumn, when Russian drones flew into Poland’s airspace, prompting Nato forces to scramble jets and shoot them down.

The trilateral peace talks in the United Arab Emirates ended with an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to exchange 314 prisoners of war, but there was little tangible progress on the most contentious issues, and negotiators said the parties remained far from a political settlement.

Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy who headed the US delegation with the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, said only that there were “detailed and productive” discussions between the sides and that “significant work remains”.

Eucom said the talks made “productive and constructive progress”.

Witkoff added that the prisoner exchange agreement — the first swap in five months — demonstrated “that sustained diplomatic engagement is delivering tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine.”

But as images of wounded soldiers involved in the swap appeared in videos released by Kyiv, senior Ukrainian officials with knowledge of the talks cautioned that the warring sides remained far apart on the core disputes around the Ukrainian-controlled eastern Donbas region and security guarantees for postwar Ukraine.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, also indicated that Moscow had no intention of dropping its maximalist goals for ending the war.

In an interview recorded before the talks and published shortly after they ended on Thursday, Lavrov said the security guarantees Ukraine was discussing with the US would not end the war “if the issues about a [final] settlement are not resolved” and dismissed them as “nonsense”.

Lavrov told state news channel RT that Russia was prepared to share a border with Ukraine “for eternity” if it was “friendly, not necessarily allied with us, but neutral and good natured”.

A Ukrainian official involved in the talks nonetheless described the progress in Abu Dhabi as significant, arguing that it was important for both Russian and Ukrainian militaries to be able to work together in advance of major political decisions.

The official warned that if political agreements were announced before the militaries are ready to act, it could take weeks to negotiate basic issues such as withdrawals, monitoring arrangements and the practical implementation of a ceasefire.

The official described the work as “not sexy for the public at large” but essential, because a cessation of hostilities can quickly fall apart if there is no agreed way to monitor and secure an armistice.

Under security guarantees discussed by Washington and Kyiv, the US is expected to provide resources including intelligence for monitoring a ceasefire and to act as a third party adjudicating any violations, including whether incidents are unintentional.

The official said the meeting ended with “a list of homework” to take back to Kyiv, Moscow and Washington ahead of a next round of talks.

Witkoff said the discussions would continue “with additional progress anticipated in the coming weeks”.