Trump finally sees obstacle to peace - it’s Russia - WSJ
Donald Trump's call for dictator Vladimir Putin to stop shelling Ukraine highlights a risky assumption he made. The US leader thought that the Kremlin wanted peace.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, Censor.NET reports.
Trump was forced to appeal to Putin after the latest missile strike on Kyiv. "Vladimir, STOP!" he wrote.
The WSJ notes that Trump's inability to stop the fighting after promising to do so is quickly frustrating the US president.
The question is whether he is willing to put pressure on Russia to make significant concessions for a peace deal, as he did on Ukraine. This would threaten his larger goal of rapprochement with Russia.
The US leader said he was ready to give Russia and Ukraine some time to reach a deal before the US withdraws its assistance in the negotiations.
"We feel very strongly that they both want peace, but they need to come to the table," Trump told reporters at the White House on April 24. He noted that he had a specific deadline, which he did not disclose.
Trump's irritation
Although Trump has criticized Putin in the past, it has been quite rare. Aides to the US leader say that lately he has been genuinely surprised - and personally annoyed - that Putin has not been more flexible.
Trump still shows little desire to cross Putin. He probably admires the Kremlin dictator. After all, he called his decision to launch a full-scale war against Ukraine "brilliant" and "smart."
Steve Witkoff
Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has a special affinity for Putin. He will visit Moscow in the near future. After previous trips, he came back praising Putin's behavior and saying that he believed a deal was possible.
But Witkoff's lack of experience with Russians could give Trump an overly rosy assessment of the chances for peace, said Thomas Graham, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. This could make Trump feel deceived.
Graham, who was George W. Bush's national security adviser for Russia and still travels frequently to Moscow, noted that earlier this year, Russians were concerned that Vitkoff did not fully understand Russia's demands on Ukraine.
"The fear was that Vitkoff would convey to Trump some semblance of a view of the Russian position that was not the true Russian position. And we may be seeing a little bit of that right now," he added.
Concessions to Russia
Despite Russia's heavy losses, Putin has already secured several concessions from the Trump administration. These include signals that the United States is open to recognizing the occupied Crimea as part of Russia, as well as ruling out the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO.
Trump's actions also weakened Moscow's isolation from the West.
"The Russians see no point in making a deal as long as they can gradually move forward on the battlefield and get more concessions from the Americans. Why would they be in such a hurry?" - explained Eric Green, a former National Security Council aide in the Biden administration.
