Putin doubles down on Ukraine war stance after Beijing meeting
Sometimes it is not what is said to create the greatest impression.
Reaction.
In the Russian Far East, Vladimir Putin gave a warning to the West: don’t even think of sending soldiers – and includes peace forces – Ukraine.
“If some troops emerge there,” said the Russian President, “he said,” Especially when the war continues, we are moving forward from the pioneer that they will be legitimate targets for destruction. “
Then the reaction.
The spectators, Russian authorities and business leaders in the economic forum in Vladivostok welcome the threat of “destroying” Western troops.
I observed the scene in the hall and found it quite creepy.
And this arrived only one day after Kiev’s promise of a post -war “guarantee” for the willing coalition of Kiev’s willing coalition.
The audience applauded again when he claimed that he would be ready to meet Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of the Kremlin leader Ukraine – but only on the home territory.
“The best place for this place is the Russian capital in Moscow,” Putin said.
Apart from Russia, Putin’s proposal was rejected as a complete non -beginning, non -opener. Political trolling case.
But in many ways, it covers the current position of the Kremlin on the war in Ukraine: “Yes, we want peace, but only according to our conditions. You reject our conditions? Then there is no peace.”
This uncompromising posture is fueled by a combination of a factor.
The first is that the Kremlin believes that the Russian forces in Ukraine were an attempt on the battlefield.
Second, with diplomatic success. This week Putin shook hands in China and shared smiles with a series of world leaders. Optics was about to show that Russia had strong friends like China, India and North Korea.
And then there is America. Last month, US President Donald Trump invited Putin to Alaska for a summit meeting. Eve Back Kremlin Pro-Sorvisers greeted the incident as evidence that his efforts to isolate Western Russia on the war in Ukraine failed.
Trump previously determined ultimatomies and the deadline dates to convince the Kremlin to end the fight; If Russia was not going to make peace, it threatened with more sanctions.
But Trump did not follow the threats – and this is another reason for Russia’s trust.
Putin clearly praises Trump’s peace efforts. Nevertheless, he rejected Trump’s ceasefire offers and did not show the desire to make concessions on the war in Ukraine.
So where does it leave expectations for this peace?
Putin recently said that he could see “light at the end of the tunnel”.
It seems to me that Russia and Ukraine and Europe (and to some extent) have different destinations on different tunnels, on different ways.
Ukraine and Europe focused on shaping security guarantees for Kiev and making sure that the Ukrainian army was strong enough after the war to prevent another invasion.
When Putin spoke about the “Light at the End of the Tunnel”, I believe that it dreamed of a road in Ukraine that led to a Russian victory and more widespread Russia to build a new global order.
In terms of peace, it is difficult to see where and when these two very different highways will unite.
