Pavel: US withdrawal from Ukraine talks will be gift for Kremlin
Czech President Petr Pavel has warned that the withdrawal of the United States from the ceasefire negotiations in Ukraine will be a gift for the Kremlin.
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to Euractiv.
As noted, during a speech after talks with EU leaders on increasing economic pressure on Russia, Pavel noted that coordination with the United States is still not sufficient.
"I perceive Donald Trump's statements as an expression of disappointment that things are not going the way he hoped, namely that he would be able to quickly reach an agreement with President Putin and declare peace in Ukraine, as well as restore economic relations with Russia," Pavel said.
According to him, Russia is clearly dragging its feet, Moscow is talking about preparing a memorandum "that could eventually lead to negotiations" instead of starting real talks. This could delay the process for several more months.
Pavel emphasized that Europe needs to apply strong and joint pressure to force Russia to the negotiating table. He noted that after Washington announced plans to impose 500% tariffs on countries that trade oil and gas with Russia, Russia's concern has grown.
"I think it's finally time to have a very serious conversation with our American allies about how to develop economic and financial measures of such a scale that Russia will really feel the impact," he added.
What preceded?
On the evening of May 19, Trump and Putin had a telephone conversation that lasted more than 2 hours.
Afterwards, the Kremlin leader said that Moscow was ready to propose and work with Ukraine on a possible memorandum on a future peace treaty. At the same time, Putin believes that compromises need to be found that would suit both countries.
US President Donald Trump said that Russia and Ukraine would immediately begin negotiations on a ceasefire and end the war.
