From stalled peace efforts to mobile internet blackouts and the blocking of the hugely popular gaming platform Roblox, 2025 has been yet another eventful — and turbulent — year in Russia. The Moscow Times looks back at six of the most important stories that shaped the year: Sisyphean peace talks Nearly a year after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours upon his return to the White House, hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough have largely faded. Despite Trump’s efforts to entice Moscow with business deals and other concessions in exchange for peace, each new U.S.-led mediation effort has failed to bring Moscow and Kyiv closer to a compromise. From Zelensky’s disastrous White House visit in February and the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska in August to direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, Kirill Dmitriev’s trips to the U.S. and visits to Moscow by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, 2025 has been a year with plenty of talk, but little to show for it.
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