Journalist Vitaliy Portnykov said this on Espreso TV.“If we sign any peace agreement, it will mean we have, de facto, accepted Russian control over the occupied territories. To be clear, I’m not even talking about a peace agreement — most likely, there will never be one between Russia and Ukraine. Well, never, meaning probably not in my lifetime,” he said.According to Portnykov, such an agreement would only become possible after major political shifts in Russia.“There must appear a leadership in the Russian Federation that says: ‘We have constitutional problems with Ukraine. We are not at war, but not at peace either — and that’s bad for relations with our neighbour. Donetsk and Luhansk are Russian cities, yes, but we need to settle matters with Ukraine, hold an international conference, fix our borders, resolve wartime disputes.’ These don’t even have to be people who want to remove Putin from his mausoleum — just those who want to normalize relations with neighbouring states,” the journalist noted.He added that at that point, a large-scale peace treaty could be signed — though the fate of the territories under Russian control would remain uncertain.Portnykov drew a historical parallel to the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, which for the first time enshrined the principle of the inviolability of borders in European international law.“Before that, this concept didn’t even exist formally. It was the Soviet Union that pushed for it, while the West resisted — especially Germany, since recognizing East Germany’s borders meant accepting the post-war division. In the end, a clause was added allowing borders to change peacefully by mutual agreement,” he explained.The journalist believes that, ideally, Russia should now be interested in restoring this system of international law — though it’s impossible to “turn minced meat back into meat.”“In the future, Russia and Ukraine could meet — perhaps with European mediators — at a major conference, say in Budapest or more likely Helsinki, to definitively fix their borders. The presidents of both countries would sign the agreement, and parliaments across Europe would ratify it. We’d effectively return to 1975, to the classical European order. That would bring peace — but again, it depends on what Russia will be then. Donetsk might return to Ukraine, or remain under Russian control. We don’t know,” Portnykov said.He stressed that this is a question of historical perspective.“This is what the future may look like. When Russians tell us, we must ‘recognize’ something — that’s what they really want. Putin’s regime seeks this by force, believing its constitutional claims make it legitimate, just as the Helsinki Act fixed other borders. It’s similar to the West pressing Serbia to recognize Kosovo — both cases hinge on mutual consent. That’s how international law still functions, however awkwardly,” Portnykov explained.He concluded that the world will eventually have to return to dialogue to avoid a global catastrophe.“Either we roll everything back and sit down to resolve it, or it’s the road to World War III. But this won’t happen tomorrow — it’s what may unfold over the next 20–25 years,” he said.