Trump said Russia had ‘all the cards,’ but this ceasefire proposal just called Putin’s bluff ...cnn mar12
With Ukraine signed up to US
proposals for a 30-day ceasefire, the pressure is now on the Kremlin to decide
whether it too will accept President Donald Trump’s plan to
bring the Ukraine war to a halt, albeit a temporary one.
Russian officials are hinting at contacts with US
representatives “in the next few days” but have not said whether the terms of
the ceasefire, as set out at the US-Ukrainian talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday,
would be acceptable.
For Moscow, this is a moment of truth and one which may
require awkward compromises if it is serious about peace.
The Kremlin has long claimed to be open to negotiations
to end the conflict, while insisting it must achieve its ambitious war aims,
such as securing control over all annexed areas of Ukraine.
Pro-war Russian hardliners, at
times encouraged by the Kremlin, may see a ceasefire as a betrayal.
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But a climbdown of some sort
may be inevitable.
Even if Russian negotiators can
impose their own conditions on the ceasefire – a Ukrainian withdrawal from
Kursk, for example, the small pocket of Russia captured by Ukraine, where
fighting is now raging – it is hard to imagine its greater territorial demands,
yet alone the goal of removing NATO from its western flank, would be met.
This may also become a decisive crossroads in Putin’s
oddly warm relationship with Trump who, in exchange for recent concessions and
praise, may now expect the Kremlin leader to play ball.
Indeed, “the ball is now in their court,” is precisely
what the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of the Russians after his talks
with Ukrainian officials concluded in Jeddah.
Just days ago, Trump claimed the Russians had “all the
cards.” Now, intentionally or not, he may have called Putin’s bluff.
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