Putin is determined to maintain power over Ukraine - Washington Post
US intelligence reports, including those published earlier this month, cast doubt on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to end the war against Ukraine.
As Censor.NET reports, The Washington Post reported this, citing sources familiar with classified US intelligence reports.
In particular, it is noted that Putin has not backed down from his desire to control Ukraine amid the Trump administration's efforts to stop the Russian-Ukrainian war. This is stated in one of the secret assessments distributed among members of the Trump administration, dated March 6.
"Putin, even if he agrees to a temporary ceasefire, will use it to rebuild and rearm his troops. They believe that Russia will most likely violate the terms of the agreement by creating a provocation for which it will accuse Ukraine," several current and former American officials told the publication.
At the same time, other officials note that intelligence is cautiously assessing what terms of peace Putin might agree to. But they acknowledge that there is no sign that the Russian leader has backed down from his demand to include Ukraine in the Russian orbit.
It is not known whether the information from the March 6 intelligence report was conveyed to Trump, but the source noted that it is the type of information that is traditionally brought to the attention of the president.
Some of the U.S. assessments of Putin’s intransigence appear to be irritating Trump, another source said. Trump and his aides have raised the possibility of imposing tough new sanctions on Russia in recent days if it refuses to agree to end the war. They have not specified what those sanctions would be, although Trump said on Wednesday they "could be devastating."
Trump is weak and may be open to manipulation.
Meanwhile, a European intelligence official, citing fresh intelligence, said officials in Moscow believe Trump is weak, lacks a basic set of principles, and could be open to manipulation.
The European intelligence official said that if a permanent ceasefire is reached, Moscow is likely to return to the "hybrid" or non-military means of undermining Ukraine that it used before the full-scale invasion in 2022.
These means include economic and diplomatic coercion; infiltration of Ukrainian elites, business circles, security services, and the armed forces; and influence through the Russian church in Ukraine, the official said.
"The 2022 invasion happened because hybrid tools did not work," the European official said.
Recall that Putin does not want to be accused of disrupting a possible agreement with US President Donald Trump, but he does not plan to abandon his maximalist demands within the framework of a potential peace agreement.
