USA must stop negotiating with itself and repackaging Russian ideas

From the Kyiv_Post:

"Miami Takeaways: Trump Admin Urged to Stop ‘Negotiating With Itself,’ Start Pressuring Moscow

In an interview with Kyiv Post, veteran US diplomat Daniel Fried warns: Russia won’t negotiate seriously until Washington decides it’s done negotiating with itself

by Alex Raufoglu | Dec. 1, 2025

HALLANDALE BEACH, Florida – The US administration cast Sunday’s five-hour Florida session with top Ukrainian officials as another step toward what President Donald Trump says is a real possibility: “There’s a good chance we can make a deal.”

But beyond the upbeat talk of “progress” and “prosperity,” one of America’s most experienced diplomats is issuing a pointed warning – the US will get nowhere unless it begins pressuring Moscow instead of haggling with itself.

Ambassador Daniel Fried, the former assistant secretary of state and longtime Russia expert whose career spanned seven administrations, told Kyiv Post following Sunday talks that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s messaging in Miami was right – but the follow-through had been lacking.

Rubio “outlined the overall principles right,” Fried said, welcoming the emphasis on “an independent, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine.”

But, he added pointedly, “now we need to mean it.”

What “meaning it” requires

Pressed on what Washington must do, Fried said the US needs to demonstrate actual security assurances and the kind of sustained security backup that prevents Russia from attacking Ukraine again.

He added the US must also stop what he called “negotiations with ourselves,” since Ukrainians, Europeans, and Americans have spent the past two weeks debating among themselves while Russia has “sat back with their arms folded,” offering nothing and maintaining maximalist demands.

And he argued that Washington must undo the early structural advantage Russia gained when US-Russian back-channels helped shape the original “28-point plan,” giving the Kremlin far too much influence over the starting framework...

He pointed directly to Witkoff’s performance: “Witkoff does not seem to have a grasp of the details, and he’s often operated sort of on the fly,” Fried said – a dangerous approach in talks of this magnitude.

Rubio’s takeover of the Miami session, he argued, may finally give the American team “a reasonable negotiating mandate – instead of simply taking and repackaging the Russian ideas.”