Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on January 22. The negotiations lasted approximately four hours.
Content of the Meeting
In addition to Witkoff, the US delegation included Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law. The Russian side was represented by Putin’s aide, Yuri Ushakov, and Kremlin special envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Ushakov described the meeting as “substantive, constructive, and candid.”
According to Ushakov, Russia’s primary goal was to obtain information about the US negotiations with Ukraine and European countries held in Davos. As Ushakov said, the American delegation also briefed Putin on the outcomes of previous contacts with European partners conducted in December and January.
Ushakov stated that Russia “will continue to pursue its stated objectives.” He added that the territorial issue could only be resolved under the so-called “Anchorage Formula.”
The “Anchorage Formula”: Russia’s Ultimatum
The “Anchorage Formula” is a term of Russian political rhetoric. It describes a set of territorial demands Moscow considers mandatory for ending the war. One of its key requirements is the recognition of what Russia calls the “new realities” created after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Moscow insists on the legal recognition of its control over temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories.
This formula is uncompromising, as it requires all other parties to unconditionally accept Russia’s terms. Although these demands are not formalized in any official document, Russian officials actively promote them through public statements.
Among the key points is Russia’s demand for final control over the occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Moscow also insists on freezing the current front line in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. The “formula” provides that Ukraine must refuse to make any future attempts to revise territorial status after a peace agreement is signed. It also calls for security arrangements that would make the return of these territories to Ukraine impossible in the future.
Russia effectively presents an ultimatum: if Ukraine doesn’t accept its territorial demands, it will continue the war.
Next Stage of Negotiations: Meeting in the UAE
A meeting of a trilateral working group involving Ukraine, the United States, and Russia will take place in Abu Dhabi on January 23. Delegations in this format have not met since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Previously, the United States held separate talks with Ukrainian and Russian representatives.
According to available information, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump agreed to hold negotiations in this format during their meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the day before. The negotiations will last two days.
