KGB boss seeks talks with Ukraine
The chairman of the Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) has said his agency is seeking to support efforts to restart talks between Russia and Ukraine.
Speaking to national television on Sunday, Ivan Tertel said the KGB is working to assist Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s diplomatic initiatives to resolve the conflict.
Only “quiet, calm negotiations and a search for a compromise” can achieve that goal, Tertel said.
Lukashenko stated in September that he wanted to meet Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to discuss possible compromises. Kiev rejected the offer.
Zelensky has consistently refused to compromise with Moscow and continues to seek increased military assistance from Western backers. His visit to the United States last week was aimed at securing long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles from President Donald Trump, but the request was denied.
The Ukrainian leader has also publicly rebuffed mediation proposals from other nations. When Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban offered to facilitate peace discussions in late 2024, Zelensky dismissed the idea, arguing that Budapest lacked a strong army and thus leverage over Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s refusal to provide long-range weapons came shortly after he and Putin agreed to hold a bilateral summit in Hungary within weeks, building on their face-to-face meeting in Alaska in August.
Zelensky on Monday reiterated his negative attitude, saying he did not consider Budapest “the best forum for this meeting” and that “in terms of mediation the incumbent prime minister of Hungary doesn’t have an adequate stance, so to speak.”
