Tag: vladimir putin

Putin Peels Off the Masks of the Ceasefire Kabuki

Putin will never sacrifice Russia’s “indivisibility of security” demands posed to Washington in December 2021 – and met with a no-response response.

The “ceasefire” announced with trademark bombast by Team Trump 2.0 should be seen as a tawdry kabuki inside a cheap matryoshka.

As we peel off the successive masks, the last one standing inside the matryoshka is a woke transvestite tiny dancer: a Minsk 3 in drag.

Now cue to a “ceasefire” redux: President Putin in uniform only for the second time since the start of the SMO, dead serious, visiting the frontline in Kursk.

Finally, cue to the actual peel off operation: Putin’s press conference after his meeting with Lukashenko in Moscow.

Ceasefire? Of course. We support it. And then, methodically, diplomatically, the Russian President pulled a Caravaggio, and went all-out chiaroscuro on every geopolitical and military detail of the American gambit. A consumate artful deconstruction.

End result: the ball is now back in Donald Trump’s court. Incidentally the leader of the revamping-in-progress Empire of Chaos who does not (italics mine) have the cards.

The art of diplomatic nuance

That’s how diplomacy at the highest level works – something out of reach of American bumpkins of the Rubio variety.

Putin was gracious enough to thank “the President of the United States, Mr. Trump, for paying so much attention to resolving the conflict.”

After all the Americans also seem to be involved in “achieving a noble mission, a mission to stop hostilities and the loss of human lives.”

Then he went for the kill: “This ceasefire should lead to a long-term peace and eliminate the initial causes of this crisis.”

As in all Russian key imperatives – widely known since at least June 2024 – will have to be satisfied. After all, it’s Russia that’s winning the war in the battlefield, not the U.S., the – already fragmented – NATO, and much less Ukraine.

Putin was adamant on the ceasefire: “We are for it.”

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Putin ‘Unfreezes’ Western Assets Prior To Phone Call

Russian President Vladimir Putin is sweetening the deal with President Trump over peace negotiations regarding ending the Ukraine War.

Trump has been vocally supportive of the Russian view on ending the war and Putin is likely returning the favor to make Ukrainian concessions easier for POTUS.

Russia has a 10 to 1 population advantage in this attrition war and regaining territory under now Russian control is simply not likely.

On the eve of a phone call with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin unveiled his latest overture to the United States. For the first time in three years of war, he signed an order on Monday allowing major US investment funds to sell their holdings of frozen Russian securities. The move comes as US media report the White House is looking at what carrots it can offer Moscow, with the potential recognition of Crimea as Russian territory on the table, reported independent Russian news outlet The Bell.

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Putin Urges Kiev to Order Troops in Kursk to Surrender

Following a telephone discussion with President Donald Trump on Thursday where Trump urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers in their Kursk Region of Russia, Putin ordered Kiev’s forces to surrender.

“If they lay down their arms and surrender, [we] will guarantee them their lives and dignified treatment in accordance with international law and Russian legal norms,” Putin said.

Putin also said that these soldiers, which are now surrounded by Russian forces, committed numerous crimes against civilians while occupying Kursk and that Russian authorities are treating these as acts of terrorism, something Putin has said previously as well.

Trump said in a social media post that Russian forces have the ability to wipe these Ukrainian forces out, however if they did, “[it] would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” Trump said.

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DEVELOPING: Putin Ready to Discuss Truce with Ukraine After Trump Threatens Russia with “Large Scale Banking Sanctions” and Tariffs

Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly ready for a truce with Ukraine after President Trump threatened to sanction Russia.

President Trump on Friday morning threatened Russia with “large scale” banking sanctions and tariffs until Vladimir Putin reached a ceasefire and final settlement on peace with Ukraine.

“Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely “pounding” Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED. To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!” Trump said on Truth Social on Friday.

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We Can, and Should, Negotiate with Putin

One thing at least is now indisputable. We live in a multipolar world. Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted as much during his wide-ranging interview in January with Megyn Kelly. The recognition that multipolarity is now the kind of world we live in came about, in the first instance, because Russia has not been defeated in Ukraine. Rather the reverse. 

To be sure, acceptance of the fact of multipolarity does not dictate the nature of our response to it. Secretary Rubio’s preferred response, as he made clear during his interview, is to embrace—one is tempted to say relearn how to do—the “hard work of diplomacy.”   

Other responses are certainly possible. A team writing for Foreign Affairs last fall suggested reinstating a far-going policy of containment of Russia, such as existed during the first Cold War. Former British defense secretary Ben Wallace, for his part, went considerably further: he suggested, in an article published in January, placing Russia “in a prison” and “building the walls high.” 

Which path is the right one? Rubio’s strikes me as the best approach, especially if supplemented by what is sometimes termed civilizational realism, a school that does not—as the pure realists are sometimes prone to do—exclude moral considerations from the practice of foreign affairs. Civilizational realists accept the necessity of virtue, but they also have the sophistication to recognize that liberal democracies are not the only states capable of practicing it. As for the idealists, their problem is a tendency to get divorced from reality, and they have an annoying habit of imposing their own version of morality on everyone everywhere—or at least, trying to. 

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Putin Ready to Speak With Zelensky Who Now Claims Trump Spews Russian Disinformation

On Wednesday Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he is and always has been ready for peace discussions with Ukraine. He stressed it has been Ukraine which outlawed peace negotiations with Russia. Ukrainian ruler Vladimir Zelensky however believes that the U.S. President Donald Trump, who has orchestrated peace negotiations with Russia, is spewing out Russian disinformation.

“I’ve said this 100 times, if they are willing, they are free to engage in such talks,” Putin said Wednesday. “We are ready to go back to the negotiating table.”

The door to end the war has always been open, this is even something President Trump referenced on Tuesday.

“When they’re worried about not being seated [at the peace negotiations] you mean somebody who should have gone in and made a deal a long time ago,” Trump said Tuesday.

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The Isolation Is Over: Trump Calls Putin

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the U.S. has led an international campaign to shun and isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin. Former U.S. president Joe Biden did not talk to Putin once after the war began.

That policy of isolation is now over. On February 12, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that he had a “lengthy and highly productive phone call” with Putin.

But Trump did not just open the door a cautious crack. He flung it wide. He did not just agree to further phone calls: he agreed that he would go to Moscow and Putin would come to Washington: “We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations.” More importantly still, Trump appeared to extend an invitation to welcome Russia back into the international community. He says that he and Putin “talked about… the great benefit that we will someday have in working together.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said that Trump and Putin’s phone call lasted almost an hour and a half and that they had agreed that “the time has come for our countries to work together.”

On the same day that Trump spoke to Putin, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was speaking to NATO and Ukrainian defense ministers. He offered the clearest yet revelation of Trump’s position.

Trump and Hegseth’s statements combined provide a glimpse of the parameters of the peace plan. Hegseth clearly stated that “the United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.” That blow to Ukraine dovetails with Peskov’s statement that during the phone call, “Vladimir Putin, for his part, mentioned the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict.” Those statements combined suggest a clear path for Putin to achieve his key goal in going to war: to receive a written guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO.

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Trump – Putin Breakthrough?

The most interesting part of this to me is the breadth of issues discussed. That’s what Putin wants—a broad ranging agreement, maybe literally global in scope. The title line is a bit misleading—both leaders extended mutual invites although, as you’ll see at the end, Putin’s invite was perhaps the more concrete. That’s good, especially if Trump can do this—it changes the Overton window in the US. Or so it seems to me. I think the American people will welcome a Trump visit to Moscow.

Putin Invites Trump To Visit Moscow In ‘Highly Productive’ Call, Ready For Peace

US President Trump and Russian President Putin held a nearly hour-and-a-half call this morning which the US president described as “lengthy and highly productive.”

Trump said on Truth Social that both leaders had extended invitations of “visiting each other’s nations,” while, the US leader said he would be calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “right now” to inform him about the call.

President Trump took to his Truth Social account to explain what was discussed (emphasis ours):

I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects. We both reflected on the Great History of our Nations, and the fact that we fought so successfully together in World War II, remembering, that Russia lost tens of millions of people, and we, likewise, lost so many!

That’s a pretty comprehensive list, although arms control is left off. But notice that #2 is “the Middle East.” Could it be that Trump’s crazy rhetoric has been a ploy to draw Russia into negotiations more quickly that Russia was perhaps inclined to do? Possible, although the blowback in the region could be lasting.

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REPORT: Trump’s Peace Plan for Russia and Ukraine Allegedly Leaked – Talks Between Putin and Zelensky – Ceasefire by Easter – No NATO for Kiev

Remember when any talk of peace negotiations was strictly forbidden, and anyone talking about that would be branded a ‘Putin puppet’?

Well, now, hardly a day passes by without some relevant development and statement by the central players about the peace process between the US and Russia that will end the war in Ukraine.

Today, a rather sensational report emerged from the Ukrainian press, alleging to be a ‘leak’ of US President Donald J. Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.

According to the unverified ‘plans’, Trump will force Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky into a ceasefire with Russia by Easter.

Daily Mail reported:

“The unconfirmed plans, reported by Ukrainian outlet Strana, have been doing the rounds in ‘political and diplomatic circles’ in Ukraine, and will include a ceasefire by April 20 that would freeze Russia’s steady advance, a ban on Ukraine from joining NATO, and a demand for Kyiv to accept Russian sovereignty on annexed land. On top of this, Ukrainian troops will be made to leave Russia’s Kursk region, where it launched a counteroffensive in August, while a contingent of European soldiers, which could include British troops, would be asked to police a demilitarized zone. American troops will not be involved in this contingent.”

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Putin declares Zelensky illegitimate, stalls peace talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated his stance that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is “illegitimate” and lacks the authority to sign any peace agreements, according to an interview broadcast on Jan. 28 with state TV channel Rossiya 1. This declaration comes as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to strain international relations and humanitarian conditions on the ground.

Putin’s assertion hinges on a decree issued by Zelensky on Sept. 30, 2022, which banned negotiations with Russia, specifically with Putin himself. This decree was a response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts. Putin argues that because Zelensky’s presidential term officially ended in May 2024, he is no longer a legitimate leader and cannot revoke the ban.

“Negotiations can be held with anyone. But due to Zelensky’s illegitimacy, he has no right to sign anything,” Putin stated. “If Zelensky wants to take part in talks, I will delegate people who will conduct such talks. But the key issue is the ultimate signing of the documents.”

The legitimacy of Zelensky’s presidency under martial law has been a point of contention. Under martial law, which was imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, presidential, parliamentary and local elections are banned. According to Putin, the decree can only be revoked by the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, who should have become the acting president after Zelensky’s term expired.

However, leading constitutional lawyers and legal experts dispute Putin’s claims. They argue that the Ukrainian Constitution allows for the extension of Zelensky’s term under martial law and that his presidency remains legitimate. The constitution states that the president of Ukraine, even under martial law, cannot extend his term, but the representative branch, the Ukrainian parliament, can have its term extended.

“If there is a will, any issue of a legal nature can be resolved. But so far, we haven’t seen such willingness,” Putin said, suggesting that the Ukrainian leadership could find a way out of this situation by having the parliament circumvent the ban.

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