ISW: Putin effectively rejects US peace plan

Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin effectively rejected a U.S. peace proposal during a meeting with an American delegation in Moscow on Dec. 2, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported.

Analysts there said that the Russian dictator continues to refuse any compromises that conflict with the Kremlin’s original war goals.

“High-ranking Kremlin officials, including Putin, have been consistently rejecting the 28-point peace plan and its subsequent iterations since it was first reported in mid-November 2025 because the proposed plans did not concede to all of Russia’s maximalist war demands,” the report said.

Putin’s longtime aide Yuriy Ushakov said that after meeting with U.S. Special Representative for Middle East Affairs Steve Witkoff and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, the sides discussed “several options” for a war-settlement plan but failed to reach agreement on a compromise.

Although some U.S. proposals were acceptable to Russia, Putin did not hide his critical, even negative attitude toward other points, Ushakov said.

He added that the talks focused on “the essence of the American documents” rather than specific wording. The Russian side also emphasized “territorial issues,” without resolving which Moscow “does not see a way out of the crisis,” as well as what it claimed were “major prospects for future economic cooperation” with the United States.

The delegations agreed not to disclose the details of the talks, which is an attempt, ISW predicts, to conceal Russia’s effective rejection of a peace plan drafted with Ukraine’s participation.

ISW analysts believe that some information may have been leaked to the media by Kremlin insiders to create the appearance that Moscow is willing to make concessions on secondary issues, such as frozen Russian assets, in exchange for concessions on the Kremlin’s core demands.

In reality, Russia’s initial war goals include seizing full control of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, as well as reducing the size of Ukraine’s military and denying it membership to the NATO defense alliance.