Putin ignores Trump and rejects a 30-day ceasefire

MoscowPeace talks on Ukraine have stalled as Donald Trump enters his 100th day in office. Vladimir Putin is unwilling to go any further. of a 72-hour truce to shield the parade of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory about the Nazis, despite American exhaustion. For the United States, it is an insufficient initiative, but the Kremlin is not budging an inch from its demands and is hardening its tone against Volodymyr Zelensky and his European allies. Kiev agreed to a month-long ceasefire after both sides urged Russia to come around to the idea. "The nuances the president mentioned are important," Peskov said. He argued that "manipulation is not giving a direct response to the initiative" of the Russian president.

said. But Putin is not taking any notice, to the point that Russian state media have not picked up on the ultimatums that the American president has been issuing in recent days. This Tuesday, he participated in the events commemorating the victory in World War II held in Volgograd, in the former Stalingrad, alongside Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko, and has avoided discussing the subject.

He did, however, take the opportunity to launch accusations of "Nazism" and "Russophobia" against Ukraine and the European Union without mentioning them directly. With May 9 approaching, the use of the "denazification" argument is becoming more prevalent in the speeches of Russian politicians. According to Putin, behind "Nazism, Russophobia, anti-Semitism, and racism" lies "an ambition for world domination." The Kremlin also responded to Emmanuel Macron's call to "increase pressure" on Russia to accept a ceasefire. "Here it becomes clear who is truly fighting for peace and who is an apologist for war," said Dmitry Peskov.

Even more forceful has been one of the most radical voices in the Russian government, former President Dmitry Medvedev. In a meeting with young people, the current Vice President of the Security Council advocated for "denazifying" not only Ukraine but all European countries where there are signs of Nazi ideology. According to Medvedev, Russian relations with Europe "have passed the point of no return" and, for example, he accused German politicians of being "Russophobic fanatics with relatives in the SS." For Medvedev, it is also necessary to create a "Nuremberg Tribunal 2.0" as part of the process of "denazification" of Ukraine to try the guilty, "destroy the Nazi regime in Kiev," and then decide the country's fate.

Reclaiming Odessa

Further proof that Russia has no intention of giving up anything to reach a peace agreement and that it only seeks Ukraine's capitulation has come from one of Putin's closest associates, Nikolai Patrushev. In an interview with the Russian news agency TASS, the presidential advisor suggested that Moscow could reclaim Odessa, a province the Russian army has never controlled. "Odessa and the majority of its residents have nothing in common with Kiev's regime; they must determine their future," he said.

The Kremlin's rhetoric also includes blaming the European Union for a presumed nuclear escalation. "Brussels, Berlin, Paris... are once again following the shameful path of flirting with the Nazis, turning the military machine against Russia, and starting to rave about nuclear apocalypse scenarios," says Patrushev. Putin's advisor warns that NATO wants to take over the Russian region of Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea, between Poland and Lithuania, and concludes: "Humanity faces a choice: a new bloody massacre or a just world order."