 "In high-stakes call, Trump gives in to Putin & endorses Russia's position in Ukraine war")
In a high-stakes telephonic conversation with Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump has given Russia yet another victory.
Trump on Monday held a call with Putin that lasted for more than two hours. He endorsed Russia’s position of immediate direct talks with Ukraine and gave up his own demand for an immediate 30-day ceasefire.
In endorsing Putin’s position, Trump dealt Ukraine and its European partners a major blow. He showed that his occasional displays of frustration with Putin in social media posts meant little and the two leaders remained on the same page. He also indicated that he could soon withdraw from mediation and said the Vatican could be a third-party host for Ukraine-Russia talks — the United States has already ended its erstwhile shuttle diplomacy .
Trump also made it clear that his priority is a reset of the US-Russia relationship and not the end of the war. Trump said that “Russia wants to do largescale trade with the United States when this catastrophic ‘bloodbath’ is over”.
As Trump appears to offer trade with the United States as an incentive to end the war, he fails to recognise the fact that Putin waged the war on Ukraine not because of some transactional issue but because of an ideological commitment for the restoration of the Russian sphere of influence that was lost with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Putin does not recognise Ukraine as an independent nation and hence wants it to be a satellite state like Belarus.
Trump rebuffs ceasefire calls, endorses talks on Putin’s terms
Ahead of the Trump-Putin call, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his European partners had called for Putin to accept a US-endorsed proposal for a 30-day ceasefire .
Trump did not press for the ceasefire. Instead, he endorsed Russia’s position of direct talks with Ukraine. It is an open secret that Putin has used direct talks to extend the conflict in a bid to tire out Ukraine’s partners — the United States is already tired.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsPutin said after the call with Trump that he remained willing to draft a memorandum with Ukraine for the peace process but maintained that “root causes” would have to be addressed for the war to end.
“Root causes” is a euphemism for Putin’s maximalist demands for the war to end, such as the recognition of all Ukrainian provinces that Russia has annexed and other territories that it controls; the ouster of Zelenskyy and his administration; amendment of the Ukrainian constitution to put limits on its military, include Russian in the nation’s cultural affairs, and rule out its membership of Nato; put limits on foreign military partnerships of Ukraine; etc.
ALSO READ: Russia rejects Trump's ceasefire proposal, lists maximalist demands
So far, Trump has floated three ceasefire proposals and Putin has rejected all of them — often citing these maximalist demands.
Trump made it clear that he does not care that such maximalist demands would mean the end of Ukraine’s sovereignty.
After endorsing the Russian position, Trump said later on Monday: “I think something’s going to happen and if it doesn’t, I just back away and they’re going to have to keep going.”
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