News analysis

Chances of compromise still low for Ukraine talks as Russia takes tough stand

Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces on a trench on the front line with Russia-backed separatists near Avdiivka, south-eastern Ukraine, on Jan 8, 2022 PHOTO: AFP
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LONDON - Europe hosts this week an unprecedented number of high-level diplomatic conferences aimed at defusing the military tensions between Russia and the West over the future of Ukraine.

Nobody doubts that the stakes are high: Nothing less than the future security structure of the entire continent is being decided. Yet despite the feverish diplomacy now unfolding, the chances of a compromise remain low, and the dangers of Russian military intervention in Ukraine have seldom been greater.

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