The Kremlin welcomed the news of a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran. It hopes that Washington will now focus its diplomatic efforts on restarting the stalled three-way peace talks about the war in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke to reporters on Wednesday and gave a measured but clearly relieved response to the truce announcement. “We received the news of a truce with satisfaction. We welcome the decision not to continue down the path of armed escalation,” Peskov said, showing a notably conciliatory tone from a government that has been engaged in a brutal military conflict for over four years.
Moscow had previously acknowledged that the Ukraine peace talks had effectively stopped due to the hostilities between the U.S. and Iran. This conflict took up much of Washington’s diplomatic and military focus. With the ceasefire now in place, Russia is signaling its eagerness to return to the negotiating table. “We hope that, in the foreseeable future, the U.S. will have more time and greater opportunity to meet in a trilateral format,” Peskov added, referring to the three-way talks involving Russia, Ukraine, and the United States.
Those negotiations have a fragile and complex history. Talks started in Istanbul and moved to three-way discussions earlier this year in Abu Dhabi and Geneva. However, progress has been painfully slow, mostly stalled by a serious territorial deadlock. Russia continues to demand that Ukraine formally give up the remainder of the Donbas region, territory that Moscow’s forces have yet to fully capture after over four years of devastating warfare. Kyiv has consistently refused to surrender any land still outside Russian military control. Whether the Iran ceasefire truly creates the necessary diplomatic space to revive Ukraine negotiations is still very uncertain. For now, Moscow is cautiously, and perhaps strategically, expressing optimism.