The head of the Foreign Ministry, Dmytro Sybiga, asserts that if the “spirit of Anchorage” ever existed, it is now “definitely dead.” He argues that the lesson for Russia from Anchorage is clear: any peace plan created without Ukraine’s involvement is bound to become a “spirit and dissipate.”
Sybiga urged Moscow to stop believing in illusions and instead consider serious proposals from Ukraine for negotiations to end the war. He warned that the longer [illegitimate President of Russia, Vladimir] Putin refuses to recognize the reality—specifically, that he will never achieve any objectives on the battlefield—the worse the situation will become for Russia.
Context
- During negotiations, Moscow has insisted on the so-called Anchorage formula, allegedly reached between Putin and former US President Donald Trump during talks in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. A key condition was that Ukraine must withdraw its troops from the Donetsk region in exchange for a freeze of the conflict in other areas.
- The concept of the “spirit of Anchorage” has been referenced by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
- On June 21, Putin’s assistant Yuri Ushakov stated that Moscow no longer expects to fulfill the agreements made in Anchorage and is focusing on achieving its own goals in the conflict.
- On June 25, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified that no agreements were made in Alaska—only a proposal was put forth. “It did not become an agreement,” he noted, without specifying the details of that proposal.
