A conversation over two hours long between Vladimir Putin And Donald Trump rekindles the hope – for the time weak – of a start of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. The Russian president, from Sochi, opened the fire to a possible ceased, however specifying that the timing remains indefinite. “Not now and not for thirty days,” would have clarified the Kremlin, effectively rejecting the western proposal of an immediate truce.
The only glimmer, at the moment, seems to be the intention expressed by Putin to work with Kiev to a memorandum that it can lay the foundations for a future peace treaty. A truce, he said, would be possible “for a certain period”, as long as that concrete agreements are reached. But he warned: “Real compromises are needed, and the root of the conflict must be addressed”. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, informed in advance of the phone call from Tycoon himself, confirmed the willingness to evaluate Moscow’s offer. However, he reiterated a fixed point: Kiev is not willing to give up the control of the occupied regions – Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzia – a condition that Moscow had already placed in the talks of Istanbul, the first direct contact between the two parties in almost three years.
The telephone interview, according to Trump, would represent a “Small but important step forward”. According to Juri Ushakov, councilor of the Russian presidency, the two leaders also discussed a possible exchange of prisoners “nine to nine” between Washington and Moscow, without excluding the possibility of meeting in person in the future. “It is very important that the two presidents have agreed to continue the dialogue on all the issues touched, of course, the Ukrainian question. And they are evaluating the possibility of organizing a meeting in person in the future,” he explained.
Some observers, however, speak of vague concessionsmore useful to earn time than to build a real negotiating path. “Putin does not know how to get out of the conflict,” JD Vance, American vice president, said a few hours before the phone call. According to many analysts, Russia aims to maintain the conflict in a stalemate, while the West leverages economic sanctions and political pressure to bring it back to the table.
Attention to the dossier penalties. Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy had spoken with Trump of a possible strengthening, considering the lack of concrete steps towards peace. And even The Donald himself has threatened them in the last few days, in a concrete way, as evidenced by the bill presented by the Republican senator Lindsey Graham. The measure, already deposited at the congress, aims to hit hard fly in the event of refusal to sit at the negotiation table or violation of any agreements. The text includes a wide range of measures, in particular against the Russian banking and energy sector. Among these, it dates up to 500% against countries – such as India and China – which continue to buy oil and other raw materials from Russia.
The feeling that emerges is always the same: despite the satisfaction of the facade, the solution to end the war in Ukraine it doesn’t seem close. Indeed, glimpse the light at the bottom of the tunnel appears increasingly complicated, especially for the Ukrainian population. No road map, no planning. And when the Kremlin, with Peskov, talks about the need for “an accurate and possibly prolonged work” does not let anything bend, at least as regards the timing of the resolution.
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