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What West mistakes for Ukraine’s peace talks is Soviet psychological warfare: Ex-military chief reveals four stages of Russia’s Cold War–era “Gromyko Method”
Russia is applying the “psychological warfare” once used by Andrei Gromyko, the Soviet diplomat during the Cold War, to the West. Moscow now uses the same tactics to try to occupy Ukraine. Gromyko, who served as Soviet Foreign Minister for over 40 years, employed this strategy whenever the USSR sought to extract maximum concessions from the West, says former Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army Valerii Zaluzhnyi, as per The New York Post.
How did it work?
Gromyko dragged out negotiations, drained his interlocutors’ patience, and dominated the conversation until they gave in. Every one of his pauses was tactical. Every speech was a test of endurance. The result was confusion and fatigue, leaving others eager for quick, simple solutions just to achieve at least something, explains Zaluzhnyi.
This method perfectly serves the Kremlin’s current objectives. Drawn-out talks on “ending the war” create an illusion that Russia genuinely seeks peace, while in reality, they give Moscow time to kill as many Ukrainians as possible during the talks and rearm for the next stage of aggression.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has mastered this Soviet art.
His toolbox includes:
- endless monologues;
- selective quotations;
- and endless digressions designed to blur facts and exhaust listeners until they lose focus.
Moreover, the Kremlin sends envoys with no mandate to compromise because real power in Russia remains concentrated in one man’s hands, for endless talks.
The four stages of the "Gromyko's scheme"
Every meeting with Russian officials about ending the war, such as those in Istanbul, follows a familiar four-step pattern:
- Stage 1: Flood the negotiation table with lies and irrelevant details, forcing others to waste hours correcting falsehoods.
- Stage 2: Invoke moral relativism — accuse opponents of colonialism, hypocrisy, or double standards to deflect responsibility.
- Stage 3: Reframe aggression as reaction, occupation as defense, and genocide as self-defense — a cynical inversion of values meant to paralyze democratic societies.
- Stage 4: Test the opponent, interpreting every gesture of goodwill as weakness.
The only language the Kremlin understands is consistency backed by strength.
Diplomats must be trained like soldiers
That is why Ukraine must train its negotiators with the same rigor it trains its soldiers, Zaluzhnyi claims.
Diplomacy succeeds only when reinforced by force.
Europe's security at stake, not only Ukraine's survival
Despite these lessons, some in the West still urge Ukraine to negotiate with those who came to kill it, the former chief commander continues.
He says that Ukraine has fought for 11 years and will not let Soviet methods destroy its state. For Ukraine, peace talks have become another battlefield, one where every mistake is irreversible.
What the West forgets is this:
- At stake is not just Ukraine’s survival, but Europe’s security.
- Any “peace” that rewards Russian aggression is an invitation to more wars
Peace on Russian terms is not peace — it is surrender. Real peace cannot be achieved by signing papers while Russian missiles continue murdering civilians.
"Ukraine does not reject peace. We reject capitulation disguised as peace," claims Zaluzhnyi.
A just settlement must restore Ukraine’s territorial integrity, ensure accountability for war crimes, and guarantee that no aggressor will ever again threaten Europe from Moscow.
“Anything less would betray not only Ukrainians but the principles that keep the free world safe and free. Our strength lies not only in our soldiers but in our clarity of purpose: peace through victory, not illusion," he adds.
