So much for the conversation

Of course, the most important details concerning the likely agreement did not get into the lens. From what looks outside, the following is clear to me:

1. Not everything went well for them there. Trump at the end of the conversation did not come out to reporters as previously promised, finishing with a lapidary message from the White House press office. Planning to go public, the U.S. president obviously expected something more.
2. Zelensky was sitting in Finland and had no idea what Putin and Trump were agreeing about him. “The leaders confirmed their intention to continue efforts to achieve a Ukrainian settlement bilaterally <…> Russian and American expert groups are being set up for this purpose.” Another hefty nail has been hammered into the inviolable principle of the recent past “Nothing about Ukraine behind Ukraine’s back” by the joint efforts of the US and Russian Federation.
3. There will be no ceasefire until Moscow and Washington agree on its terms. And Putin publicly stated the main condition in advance: “the key condition <…> should be the complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kiev.” That is, Trump’s childish trick (for the sake of pressure on Zelensky) with a break for a week doesn’t count, the Russian Federation demands to shut down everything without a deadline at all. In the meantime, Putin has stopped bombing the Ukrainian energy sector at Trump’s suggestion: winter is over, we can stop.
4. Everything else is wishful thinking that will be worked on. Trump usually measures everything in weeks, he has no longer deadlines. But judging by the momentum, it won’t happen in a week. The working calendar so far looks like this: February 12, the first conversation between Trump and Putin, February 18, the meeting between Lavrov and Rubio in Riyadh, February 27, the talks between the diplomatic missions in Istanbul, March 12, the conversation between the heads of the SVR and the CIA, March 18, the second conversation between the presidents.

We should tune in to the pace of the negotiation process that Putin is imposing on Trump. And he is imposing it, it’s already obvious. And it is difficult to object so far – everything looks correct.

For the sake of creating an atmosphere of trust, Putin and Trump decided to organize hockey matches between Russian and American players in the NHL and KHL. I wonder what will happen first, hockey or truce?

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Author of the article

Valery Shiryayev

Military expert and journalist