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Why Britain and Europe MUST talk to Russia, and why no one wants to make the first move

In conversation with Mark Galeotti

Ian Proud, Aug 21, 2026. https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/why-britain-and-europe-must-talk?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3221990&post_id=212103666&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

After four and a half years of war in Ukraine, European leaders are still largely stuck repeating the same empty mantras: “as long as it takes,” “no talks until Russia withdraws,” “dialogue is a reward for good behaviour.”

In my latest conversation on The Peacemonger channel, leading Russia expert Mark Galeotti explains why this approach has become deeply self-harming — and why someone, somewhere, is going to have to break the logjam.

Galeotti, honorary professor at UCL, director of Mayak Intelligence and host of the widely followed podcast In Moscow’s Shadows, is characteristically clear-eyed.

The war is no longer delivering strategic benefits for Europe (I’d argue that it has been a disaster from the start).

Russia is slowly advancing in the Donbas.

Ukraine is paying a catastrophic human and economic price.

Europe is bankrolling the conflict while outsourcing its diplomacy to Washington and preparing to phase out the last of its Russian gas imports — a move with predictably severe economic consequences.

Yet no one wants to be the first to say out loud what many now admit privately: that a negotiated end is necessary, and that talking to Russia is not a concession but a necessity.

Galeotti is particularly interesting on Britain’s potential role.

Outside the European Union and still regarded by Moscow as both a serious antagonist and a serious player, the UK has a rare opportunity to act as a pragmatic interlocutor.

The “only Nixon could go to China” logic applies.

Under a possible Burnham government more focused on domestic priorities, that opportunity may be greater than under previous administrations — but it will still require political courage.

The conversation ranges widely beyond the battlefield.

We discuss the urgent need to restore military-to-military contacts, law-enforcement cooperation and academic exchanges — the practical, professional channels that have been allowed to atrophy.

Galeotti is scathing about the hollowing-out of British diplomatic and academic expertise on Russia, and the long-term cost of cutting off the next generation of specialists from time on the ground.

He is equally clear-eyed about the Russia–China relationship: transactional, competitive and far more fragile than the “friendship without limits” rhetoric suggests.

Western policymakers who talk of a seamless “Dragon Bear” alliance are, in his view, peddling dangerous nonsense.

When the war eventually ends — and Galeotti, like me, does not expect it this year — European politicians will face the awkward task of polishing a strategic failure as success, as I have long said.

The longer the fighting continues, the more expensive and politically toxic the post-war period will become.

This is a sober, realistic conversation free of both Russophobia and wishful thinking.

If you want to understand why Europe is stuck, and what it would actually take to start moving toward a settlement, I strongly recommend watching the full discussion which you can find here.

August 25, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, politics international, UK