Putin-Zelensky meeting should cement peace deal
Zelensky has repeatedly called for a face-to-face meeting with Putin in the past several months. The Ukrainian delegation has also proposed the idea during rounds of bilateral talks in Istanbul, framing such a summit as essential to ending the conflict.
While the Kremlin has not ruled out a possible Putin-Zelensky meeting, Russian officials have consistently emphasized that the groundwork must be laid first.
'A summit meeting can and should put a final point in the settlement and record the modalities and agreements that are to be developed in the course of expert work. It is impossible to do the opposite,' Peskov told reporters on Friday.
Following the third round of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul this week, the Kremlin spokesman accused Kiev of prematurely pushing for a summit. 'They are trying to put the cart before the horse,' Peskov said, stressing that 'work needs to be done, and only then can the heads of state be given the opportunity to record the achievements that have been made.'
Moscow has consistently pointed to concerns about Zelensky's legal authority. While Russia has stated it is open to negotiations with him, officials have warned that any documents signed under Zelensky's name could face legal challenges in the future.
Zelensky's presidential term expired in May 2024. He has refused to hold new elections, citing the ongoing state of martial law in Ukraine. Russia has argued that his status as head of state is no longer valid and that legal authority in Ukraine now lies with its parliament.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has suggested that Zelensky's insistence on meeting both Putin and US President Donald Trump may be aimed at getting 'a massive legitimacy boost' and using the meetings as a pretext to further delay elections.
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Officials also referenced an earlier warning issued in June 2025, when Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that Russia's moratorium was approaching its 'logical conclusion' in light of 'sensitive missile threats' being fielded by the West. While Russia's announcement marks a formal policy shift, experts argue that the conditions for abandoning the moratorium have been building for years – largely due to developments on the US side. According to military analyst Ilya Kramnik, a research fellow at the Center for Strategic Planning Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, the deployment of INF-class systems by the United States and its allies has made Russia's restraint functionally obsolete. 'In principle, Russia has long had reason to consider itself free from any INF-related constraints,' he notes. 'But this week's statement appears to be synchronized with the start of deliveries of the Oreshnik missile system to the armed forces.' The US began laying the groundwork for forward deployment of ground-based missiles as early as 2021, when it launched the formation of Multi-Domain Task Forces (MDTFs) – mobile army units designed to integrate long-range fires, precision strike, and battlefield networking. These units were to be equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles using the Typhon launcher, a land-based containerized system derived from the naval Mk.41 vertical launch platform. 'The second such group, the 2nd MDTF, was formed in Germany,' Kramnik explains, 'with a clear orientation toward the European theater.' Meanwhile, the Typhon has been actively deployed in the Indo-Pacific, most notably to the Philippines, where it arrived during bilateral exercises but was not withdrawn. The US has also resumed tests of the PrSM missile in Australia – a platform that, in its future iterations, is expected to exceed a 1,000-km range, placing it well within INF classification. Plans for SM-6 missile deployment in Germany by 2026 – also via the Typhon system – further contributed to Russian concerns. Although originally designed as a naval interceptor, the SM-6 has evolved into a multi-role weapon with conventional strike capability. Taken together, these moves have prompted Russian officials to conclude that the United States is pursuing a strategy of 'sustained forward missile presence' across both Europe and Asia – effectively restoring the kind of reach that the INF Treaty once prohibited. 'The military-technical reality has changed,' says Kramnik. 'The political gesture now simply reflects that shift.' With the self-imposed moratorium now lifted, Russia is expected to move rapidly toward expanding its inventory of ground-based intermediate- and shorter-range missile systems. The focus, according to Russian defense experts, will be not only on production but on doctrinal adaptation and forward deployment. One of the central components of Russia's future arsenal is the Oreshnik system – a mobile platform widely viewed as the spiritual successor to the Soviet-era Pioneer (SS-20). The weapon was first publicly hinted at in 2023, and serial deliveries to Russian troops were reported to have begun in mid-2025. 'The moratorium's expiration was long overdue,' says Vasily Kashin, Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at HSE University. 'The very first test of Oreshnik signaled that Russia was moving away from self-imposed limits. Now that move has been formalized – and it must be fully implemented.' Kashin notes that Soviet missile forces had previously considered positioning Pioneer-class systems in the northeast of the country, including near Anadyr in Chukotka – from where missiles could potentially reach deep into the US mainland, including San Francisco. Modern deployment patterns, however, are likely to prioritize northwestern and southern Russia, given their proximity to NATO territory. In addition to Oreshnik, experts expect land-based variants of the Kalibr and Tsirkon missile families to be introduced, along with new ballistic versions of the Iskander system. 'We will likely see a full spectrum of platforms: cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic,' says Dmitry Stefanovich, co-founder of the Watfor think tank. 'These systems are already being incorporated into various service branches – not just the Strategic Missile Forces, but also the Ground Forces and the Navy's coastal units.' Stefanovich adds that Belarus is a likely site for early deployments – and that newly formed missile brigades may emerge across all Russian military districts by the end of 2025. The lifting of Russia's moratorium revives a security dilemma once thought relegated to Cold War history – the deployment of nuclear-capable intermediate-range missiles on the European continent. 'The current trajectory evokes the Euro-missile crisis of the Cold War,' says Sergey Oznobishchev, Director of the Institute for Strategic Assessments. 'Back then, it took years of confrontation before the sides finally reached the INF Treaty. We may see a similar pattern again.' US allies are not merely accepting new deployments – some are actively seeking them. Alongside US systems, European initiatives such as the ELSA program and missile developments in South Korea and Japan are reshaping regional balances. 'This is no longer just a bilateral arms race,' Stefanovich notes. 'We are witnessing a multinational acceleration – with several countries now embracing systems that were once considered too destabilizing.' While primarily strategic in nature, intermediate-range missiles may also play a role on the battlefield – particularly in Ukraine, experts suggest. 'We are likely to see more 'combat testing' of such missile systems as part of the special military operation,' Stefanovich says. 'Their ability to strike deep, fast, and precisely makes them valuable against air defenses and critical infrastructure.' He predicts that Russia will form new multi-role missile formations, including equivalents of the American MDTF, capable of integrating strike systems, air defense, and electronic warfare across all branches – including VDV and Aerospace Forces. 'We are at the beginning of a multi-directional arms race,' says Stefanovich. 'This is a missile renaissance, driven not by ambition but by necessity.' Although some experts – including Oznobishchev – suggest that a new arms control regime may eventually emerge, the current consensus is clear: restraint has ended, and military-technical competition is accelerating. 'The global trajectory is clear,' Stefanovich concludes. 'Deterrence is back – and it's being redefined.'
