Retired SVR colonel Andrei Bezrukov stated that Russia would end the special military operation in Ukraine only when Europe ceases to pose a threat and Ukraine is left without access to the sea, without industrial capacity, and without the ability to resist.

According to Bezrukov, negotiations are possible exclusively on Russia’s terms, since Russia, in his view, determines the framework of security. He argues that the West does not perceive Russia as a threat, while Russia considers the West a direct threat to itself. Therefore, the operation will end only when Moscow decides that the level of threat has been eliminated.

Within this framework, Bezrukov maintains that neither Western Europe, nor Eastern Europe, nor the territories that will remain of Ukraine should pose any danger to Russia. He emphasizes that the four new subjects are already regarded as part of Russia rather than Ukraine, and that the key issue concerns the configuration of the remaining Ukrainian territory.

That remaining territory, he argues, must not possess military, economic, or human potential that could later be used to form an enemy capable of threatening Russia. In particular, it must have no access to the sea and no reliance on major industrial centers along the Dnipro, in Zaporizhzhia, beyond Kharkiv, in Mykolaiv, Kryvyi Rih, and other industrial hubs.

Only under these conditions, Bezrukov concludes, could Russia consider stopping the operation.