President Trump says he is focused on stopping the « death march » in Ukraine « as soon as possible. »
But for President Vladimir V. Putin de Russia, fire talks with Mr. Trump are a means for much wider purposes.
Russian and American officials will meet in Saudi Arabia on Monday to deepen their negotiations on the technical details of a partial fire cessation to stop attacks on energy facilities and black sea vessels. While Ukraine says he is ready for a complete truce, Mr Putin has made it clear that he will look A wide range of concessions First.
The result: Kremlin seems determined to squeeze as much as possible benefits of Mr. Trump’s desire for a Ukraine Peace Agreement, even when negotiations are slowly moving. Seen from Moscow, the best links to Washington are an economic and geopolitical advantage, which can be achieved even when Russian missiles continue to beat Ukraine.
Last week interviews with figures from Russian foreign policies at a Security Conference in New Delhi suggested that Kremlin saw negotiations on Ukraine and the links of the United States-Russia as two separate tracks. Putin continues to seek a wide victory in Ukraine, but he is humoring the thrust of the cessation of Mr. Trump’s fire to take advantage of the advantages of a thaw with Washington.
Vyacheslav Nikonov, Vice President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Low House of the Russian Parliament, said that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin were developing a « bilateral agenda » that was not « connected to Ukraine. »
« Ukraine takes its course, » Nikonov said in an interview apart from the New Delhi conference, called Raisina’s dialogue. « The offensive continues, » Nikonov added. « But I think for Putin, relationships with America are more important than the Ukraine issue specifically. »
Checking with Mr. Trump’s thinking, it seems that Moscow’s thinking could unblock economic benefits as basic as the spare parts for Russian Boeing jets and geopolitical profits as wide as a reduction in NATO’s presence in Europe. What is least clear is whether Mr. Trump will use these hopes as a leverage to make a better agreement for Ukraine and if at some point he will lose patience with Mr. Putin.
« Mr. Trump likes quick offers, » Aleksandr A. Dynkin, a specialist in international affairs advising the Russian Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs. « If you see that there are great difficulties, it may be disappointed and set aside this problem. »
As a result, Mr. Putin seems to take away all the stops to maintain the interest of Mr. Trump.
At the meeting in Moscow with the Steve Witkoff White House envoy this month, Mr. Putin delivered a « beautiful portrait of President Trump » in charge of a Russian artist, said Mr. Witkoff in an interview published on Saturday.
« It was such a friendly moment, » Mr. Witkoff said to Fox News Examfitrió, Tucker Carlson.
In Ukraine, Mr. Putin has not shown a sign of resorting his goals: a guarantee that Ukraine will never be incorporated into NATO, a deployment of the western alliance in Central and Eastern Europe, limits the Ukrainian military and some level of influence on Ukraine’s domestic policy.
Feodor Voitolovsky, director of the Moscow Institute of Economics and International Relations, said that Russia would look for a « roadmap » to a broader agreement before agreeing any cessation of fire.
He also said that Russia could accept a Peace maintenance force from the United Nations to Ukraine as long as it did not include troops from NATO countries.
« For Russia, the long -term perspective is more valuable than a tactical cessation, » said Voitolovsky, who exercises the advice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Security Council. « We can arise with a model that will allow Russia and the United States and Russia and NATO to coexist without interfering in the areas of interest, » he added.
To achieve this treatment, Russia is appealing to Mr. Trump’s business focus. Voitolovsky stated that a wide agreement on Ukraine was a prerequisite for American-Russian cooperation, and that Mr. Trump, « as a businessman, » said that Russian assets were currently undervalued.
Dynkin, the Russian international affairs, said that Kremlin could eliminate the United States from its list of « unmet countries », a classification that restricts the capacity of North -American companies to do business in Russia.
He said that Moscow was particularly interested in aviation sector negotiations, given the challenges of Russian airlines when it comes to serving their Americans. The United States could allow export of spare parts of the plane and restore direct flights to Moscow, he said; Russia could let American Airlines pass over Siberia, A right that Russia retired by 2022.
Anastasia Likacheva, Dean of International Affairs of the Moscow School of Economy, said that it was unlikely that Mr. Trump would deliver fast and rapid relief.
But he said that a thawing in relations with the United States could lead to a reduction in the application of sanctions and facilitating Russian companies to work worldwide by sending a signal that Russia was no longer a problematic partner.
« A detoxification, » he said, « it could be useful and will expand our menu of possibilities. »
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