Possible influence of oligarchs on Putin: expert explains why Abramovich was in Kyiv

Political expert and Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman Oleksandr Musiienko explained why Zelensky met with Abramovich in Kyiv and assessed whether this could facilitate the negotiation process, Politeka reports.

He spoke about this in his blog.

“Zelensky’s move was meant to check how possible the resumption of negotiations is right now. Are we entering even the smallest negotiation format after Ukraine carried out a series of successful strikes on Russia’s military-industrial complex and its oil industry? Or are we moving into escalation stages and continuing to exchange strikes? The most important thing is that in this exchange of strikes we are more effective, more powerful, and that the enemy’s losses are more devastating. Or perhaps there is now room for maneuver and some kind of negotiation process, at least its beginning and agreement on parameters—what will we be talking about? Well, Putin has chosen war. As of now, negotiations are impossible given the circumstances,” Oleksandr Musiienko explains.

And Abramovich was chosen, the expert notes, because he had already come to Kyiv in 2022 and took part in negotiations. In addition, he adds, Abramovich is a representative of business circles who speaks for other oligarchs, for big business, for financial-industrial groups that are suffering losses. This is, the expert says, a kind of test of whether oligarchs are willing and able to influence Putin.

However, he notes that it is good that this is public diplomacy, and that Zelensky confirmed the meeting with Abramovich; otherwise the Kremlin would have set a trap and launched information operations (an “IPS0”) claiming that secret negotiations were already underway, everything had been decided, and a deal was imminent.

“But the war continues. For now, a negotiation process is impossible. At least until mid-autumn we will remain in an escalation phase. This must be understood. We’ll see what happens next,” Oleksandr Musiienko concludes.