The West’s Next Awkward Question: Should We Talk To Russians?

NEW DELHI — “Wait, hang on.” A senior European official stopped mid-sentence as two men walked by. “They’re with the Russian delegation,” the official whispered. “Best to avoid eye contact.”

He was joking. Sort of.

Either way, his comment reflected a dilemma facing many in the halls of the major global security and economic conference in New Delhi this week, where Western officials were trying to figure out who else should be talking to the Russians and, if so, how.

Top defense officials and diplomats from around the world gather here every year at the Raisina Dialogue, one of the last remaining spots where Western officials circle the same hallways as those from rival powers like Russia and Iran. India works to maintain close ties with many powers, U.S. allies and adversaries alike, as part of its “multi-alignment diplomacy” approach to foreign affairs.

In attendance this year were U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Russian lawmakers and top officials from NATO countries such as Sweden, Norway and Hungary.

The Russian delegation at this conference has been all but radioactive to Western officials since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But the new flurry of diplomacy between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin is pushing other officials in NATO countries to think through whether to start talking to Russians again after three years of war in Europe, and what sort of conditions they should put on any such talks.

Watching these debates play out at a conference offers early insight into whether Moscow has any chance to reemerge from its pariah status on the world stage. At times, it is also really, really awkward.

In one panel session at Raisina, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott asked a Russian state Duma member, Vyacheslav Nikonov, whether he thought Ukraine had the right to exist as a country.

Some members of the audience applauded Abbott’s question. “Yes, of course,” Nikonov said, then added caveats that justified Putin’s decision to invade in the first place.

Nikonov spoke on a panel alongside Georgette Mosbacher, Trump’s first-term ambassador to Poland. Nikonov quietly scoffed and rolled his eyes when Mosbacher said: “No one counted on the Russian army being so incompetent and Ukraine being such fierce fighters.” (Mosbacher also endorsed Trump’s plans to negotiate with Russia to end the war.)

But the fact that a Russian and American were sitting side by side on a public panel together was significant.

“This would never have happened a few months ago,” remarked one Northern European official here. “Another sign of the Trump effect.” Like others, this official was granted anonymity to candidly discuss views on sensitive diplomatic matters.

The panel was also a stark contrast to the 2023 conference, where then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov both attended — and carefully avoided one another.

Benedikt Franke, vice chair and CEO of the Munich Security Conference, said Russian and Western analysts have had informal dialogues over the past three years, but this moment feels different.

“For the first time, there is a potential end in sight,” he said. “And the question is what do you do with Russia, how do you engage? You need to do that without stabbing Ukrainians in the back.”

In 2007, Putin used the Munich Security Conference — one of the most prominent gatherings of national security officials in the world, to make a now (in)famous speech denouncing the post-Cold War system. Many viewed it as a harbinger of Russia’s decision to launch wars in Georgia and Ukraine. Russian officials haven’t been back to Munich since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“We want to be ready to answer questions like, ‘Should a Russian be invited to the next conference?’” Franke said. “It’s a super difficult question.”

Some Europeans saw no point in talking with the Russians who came to Delhi, even as Trump phoned Putin from Washington and scheduled further U.S.-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia this weekend.

Jonatan Vseviov, a senior Estonian diplomat, said engaging with Russian lawmakers was a waste of time given Russia’s autocratic system.

“Why should we?” he said. “On a list of people who matter, members of the state Duma of the Russian federation do not appear.”

At the conference’s glitzy hotel venue, some NATO country officials side-eyed and carefully avoided the Russian delegation between panel sessions.

In addition to members of the Russian Duma, the Moscow delegation included Moscow-based think tank figures close with the Kremlin’s inner foreign policy circles. The U.S. delegation, led by Gabbard, also included Adm. Samuel Paparo, the chief of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and Ricky Gill, the top White House National Security Council official for South Asia.

None of the European or American officials had meetings with the Russians while in New Delhi, four Western officials said. Lavrov was slated to attend, according to Indian media reports, but didn’t end up going.

Western officials spent much of the early part of the week speculating about what would come from Trump’s Tuesday call with Putin. Still, top European officials openly doubted whether Putin was interested at all in halting the war.

Others took it further. “Seeing Russians here talking of peace while they bomb Ukrainian children and pretend it’s justified just makes my skin crawl,” fumed one Eastern European diplomat.

Indian officials said it was important for India to work as a convening power for all sides, Russia included, to work toward peace.

“We have tried on one side to speak to the Russian leadership, on the other hand, to engage the Ukrainian leadership,” said Indian Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar. “By lining up everybody else in the world, other than the other party, you’re not going to get a solution.”

Some members of the Russian delegation, meanwhile, seemed upbeat about the sudden change of fortunes evidenced by Trump reaching out to Moscow.

“The Europeans can complain as much as they want, but only Washington and Moscow really matter and it is good that we are talking,” said one Russian official. “This is a total turnaround from one year ago. It is good that all sides understand peace is in all of our interests.”

When asked how Russia bombing Kyiv within hours of Trump’s call with Putin showed Moscow was interested in peace, the Russian official shrugged and replied: “I have not seen such headlines.”

Then he looked at his phone, excused himself and walked away.