Putin again persuades Trump, unmoved by the Sumi massacre

MoscowIf after Donald Trump's displays of binge eating with Vladimir Putin anyone could think that The Russian massacre of 35 people and 117 wounded in the Ukrainian city of Sumi would have finally exhausted the patience of the American president, he was wrong. Bloomberg would have even blocked a statement condemning the G-7, proving to what extent Last Friday's meeting between the Russian president and Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, served to draw the United States back into the Kremlin's narrative of peace in Ukraine.

In Russia, they welcome American restraint and are convinced that the new administration is sympathetic to Moscow's conditions for resolving the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview withKommersanteTrump has shown he understands the "root causes" of the war. He refers to the Russian narrative that the conflict in Ukraine began in 2014 with a coup d'état backed by Washington and Brussels, the Maidan uprising.

He also explains that American negotiators have been receptive Another of the arguments the Kremlin uses to justify the invasion: the alleged "extermination" of the Russian population in eastern Ukraine. That's why Lavrov applauds Witkoff's public acceptance of the illegal referendums held in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian provinces weeks ago. As Reuters reported, Witkoff himself also reportedly advised the US president to recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia as the quickest route to peace.

The sensitivity of Trump's special envoy to Putin's motives has once again become evident in the details he has given of his meeting with the Russian president. In recent hours, Witkoff admitted for the first time in an interview on Fox News that the two discussed the demand that Ukraine not be part of NATO or the possibility that the Atlantic Alliance could guarantee its security without joining, in addition to Russian sovereignty over the annexed regions.

For the Kremlin, it is vital that Witkoff be the one who sets the pace for Trump, and not the other special envoy, Keith Kellogg, which Moscow has always seen as very close to Kiev. According to the Wall Street JournalKellogg and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are keen for the US government to take a tougher line on Russia, which has so far shown no genuine desire for a ceasefire, a divide that has only widened after the Sumi missile attack.

The Kremlin is in no hurry.

This position is not shared by Witkoff, who in the same interview stated that Putin is not only open to a temporary truce, but also wants to achieve a "permanent peace." The US president assured this Monday that there was a deadline for agreeing to a ceasefire, but did not specify it.

The following day, the Kremlin responded, as usual, deflating the balloon. "We would not speak specifically of any timeframe," clarified spokesman Dmitri Peskov. "The matter is so complex that immediate results can hardly be expected," Peskov insisted regarding the talks with the United States, in yet another attempt to dispel any expectations of an end to the fighting. According to the Institute for the Study of War, Putin has enough resources to prolong the war for another year and four months..

Along these lines, Lavrov acknowledges that There is "no" agreement for a ceasefire, not even with regard to energy infrastructure. or in the Black Sea, although it is shaking off its responsibilities. This Wednesday, Putin's unilateral moratorium on attacking energy facilities expires, with the Russian announcement that Ukraine has allegedly violated it more than 100 times, of which there is no proof.

The Russian Foreign Minister also blames the West for not heeding his demand to lift sanctions on agricultural and fertilizer exports to make way for a maritime truce. Ukraine, the United Kingdom, France, and Turkey are meeting this week to discuss navigation safety in the Black Sea, without Russian representation.

Meanwhile, Russia is calling on the international community to condemn Wednesday's Ukrainian attack with more than 100 drones in Kursk, in which one woman died and at least nine were injured. Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova demanded an end to the "bloody crimes in Kiev," while Kremlin propagandists accuse Ukraine and the European Union of trying to turn the Sumi massacre into "a new Bolsonaro" to undermine negotiations between Moscow and Washington.