Putin and Trump agree to halt attacks on energy infrastructure

Moscow / WashingtonA minimal agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin allows the Russian president to kick the ball forward again. Both leaders have agreed to halt bombing of energy infrastructure for 30 days, a proposal from the US president that, according to a Kremlin statement, the Russian president has accepted and has already ordered his generals to execute. According to the White House, they also committed to beginning "technical negotiations on the implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea," in addition to continuing to discuss "a comprehensive ceasefire and permanent peace." These negotiations will begin "immediately" in the Middle East.

Now, Russia is not only taking advantage of the opportunity to make a Pyrrhic concession now that electricity demand is declining with the arrival of good weather, but it also maintains its objections to a temporary ceasefire like the one proposed by Washington and Kiev. In the statement, the Kremlin reiterates the questions Putin raised at a press conference last Thursday: the need to establish "effective control" on the front lines, to halt the "forced mobilization" and "rearmament" of Ukrainian forces, and the impossibility of punishing alleged "terrorist crimes." Therefore, it demands that the West stop providing kyiv with military aid and intelligence information.

Another point on which Putin has no intention of budging is his maximalist demands. It is no coincidence that one of the first sentences of the Kremlin statement is that "we must take into account the absolute necessity of eliminating the root causes of the crisis and Russia's legitimate interests in the security sphere." That is, in practice, the capitulation of Ukraine. According to the Russian government, the conflict should be resolved in a "comprehensive, sustainable, and long-term" manner.

In this way, the Russian leader maintains his willingness to engage in dialogue with Trump while refusing to end the fighting. In fact, just hours after hanging up the phone, the Russian army shelled the city of Kiev, according to Ukrainian media reports. The Russian Defense Ministry has also accused Ukraine of wanting to "create a negative background" in the talks with an offensive in the Russian region of Belgorod. However, the Kremlin statement goes further when it comes to reaffirming its commitment to peace: it thanks the US president for "his desire to help achieve the noble goal of ending hostilities and human losses" and again uses the word "partners" to describe the United States.

Among other issues, Trump and Putin also agreed to a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia. Specifically, 175 prisoners are expected to be exchanged tomorrow, and Russia has said it will send 23 seriously wounded soldiers to Kiev imminently.

The conversation lasted two and a half hours, one of the longest on record between the presidents of Russia and the United States. Putin once again displayed the position of strength he displayed during Trump's emissary to Moscow, Steve Witkoff, when he made him wait all day before meeting with him. On Tuesday, he attended a conference of business elites and, when asked if he would be late for the call with the US president, he joked that Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, who had previously announced the time of the conversation, should not be listened to.

Putin's entourage greeted the outcome of the call with euphoria. The director of the Russian sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev, also a member of the negotiating team, described the conversation as "perfect" and asserted that "the world is a safer place today" thanks to the leadership of both presidents. Earlier, Dmitriev had also proposed to Elon Musk that they jointly organize a Russian-American mission to Mars in 2029. "Our minds and technologies should serve the glory of humanity, not its destruction," he wrote to X.

Another example of the thaw in the United States with both countries. Workers have removed the letters ZVO, the acronym forZa pobedu, sila V pravde, Otvajnie(For victory, strength is in truth, brave), which the Kremlin had installed at the gates of the diplomatic building in November 2023. And yet another symbolic note: Trump has agreed to Putin's idea of organizing ice hockey matches in both Russia and the United States between players.