The Briefing Room - What is Putin's bottom line?

Securing peace in Ukraine is proving harder than President Trump first thought. Separate talks between US officials and Ukrainian and Russian representatives were held in Saudi Arabia a few days ago. But the tentative ceasefire they reached just for shipping in the Black Sea has already hit problems with Moscow demanding certain sanctions are lifted if it’s to comply. And achieving a full ceasefire that Russia will accept still seems as elusive as ever. David Aaronovitch and guests ask what Putin’s bottom line on Ukraine really is? Have his long term aims changed and what might he accept?

Guests:
Vitaly Shevchenko, Russia Editor for BBC Monitoring
Sir Laurie Bristow, President of Hughes Hall at Cambridge University and the former U.K. ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020.
Angela Stent, Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former US National Intelligence Officer for Russia.
Mark Galeotti, writer on Russian security affairs and director of the consultancy Mayak Intelligence.

Presenter: David Aaronovitch
Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight and Bethan Ashmead Latham
Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Richard Vadon

Published on Thursday, 27th March 2025.

Available Podcasts from The Briefing Room

Subscribe to The Briefing Room

We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the The Briefing Room webpage.