Russia in February 2026: the most important developments in politics
In February 2026, Russian politics centred on the talks over ending the war in Ukraine. Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in Abu Dhabi on February 4 and 5 with US participation, described as productive, and exchanged 314 prisoners of war. A further round took place in Geneva on February 17 and 18, with Russian aide Vladimir Medinsky leading Moscow's delegation, and ended without an agreement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the United States had set a June deadline for a settlement, said Ukrainians would reject any deal handing the Donbas region to Russia, and said he was ready to meet President Vladimir Putin. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova set out Moscow's conditions, including that Kyiv renounce NATO membership and recognise Russian sovereignty over annexed territories. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on February 10 that the negotiations were headed in the wrong direction.
Relations with Europe formed the second theme. French President Emmanuel Macron proposed restarting a European dialogue with Putin; the Kremlin said it kept working-level contacts with France, and on February 12 Macron said talks were unlikely in the near future. Lavrov called NATO, the EU and the OSCE outdated and said Russia would not attack the EU or NATO unless struck first.
The third theme was the Navalny case. On February 14 five Western countries, including France and the United Kingdom, said Alexei Navalny was poisoned in prison with a toxin found in poison dart frogs. The Russian embassy called the accusation propaganda and a 'circus act', and the Kremlin called it a Western distraction.
Arms control and the Middle East came last. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was no basis for new nuclear treaty talks with the United States, while the US called for talks that include Russia and China, and teams from the three countries met in Geneva on February 23. Lavrov warned that a US strike on Iran would be 'playing with fire', and on February 28 Russia condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran as unprovoked aggression and called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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