Ahead of today's phone call How Putin is refusing peace - and Trump is helping him
When Donald Trump talks to Vladimir Putin on the phone today, military expert Anders Puck Nielsen does not expect any results that will advance peace: The American is helping the Russian, the Dane believes.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Donald Trump wants to talk to Vladimir Putin on the phone today at 4 p.m. CEST to discuss the war in Ukraine.
- A military expert explains why the talks between Kiev and Moscow in Istanbul were doomed to failure.
- Putin had given Trump a pretext to pull out of a coalition with Europeans in order to achieve a ceasefire.
- In Istanbul, the Russian delegation threatened years of war and also attacked the Ukrainian representatives personally.
"It's been a pretty frustrating week if you've been following the news," says Anders Puck Nielsen with regard to the talks between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul, "because there was so much talk about nothing."
This is the conclusion of the Danish veteran after he traces how Kiev is cleverly playing its cards in the negotiating poker game, while Vladimir Putin has no interest in peace at all - and Donald Trump is even helping him out of a tight spot and enabling him to get out of the game.
The high expectations for the Istanbul talks were mainly due to the broad public attention: it was "almost agonizing" to watch, says the 45-year-old.
Hype in the media and Trump's middle finger
The reason: "On the one hand, the media managed to create such hype that many people actually believed that there would be a meeting between Putin and Selensky." Yet "pretty much every expert" knew that this would never happen.
How the Istanbul talks came about
- April 28: Russia unilaterally declares a three-day ceasefire around May 9 due to the Moscow Victory Day parade.
- April 28: On the same day, Kiev countered with the proposal of a 30-day ceasefire to initiate peace negotiations.
- May 5: London and Paris agree to Kiev's demand.
- 10 May: Following consultation with Donald Trump, several European states threaten Russia with further sanctions and military aid for Ukraine if it refuses.
The Europeans and also Volodymyr Zelenskyi had relied on the USA being on board, according to Nielsen. Putin responded by saying that there was no need for a ceasefire: negotiations could begin immediately, following on from the Istanbul talks in 2022.
"At this point, Donald Trump gave Ukraine and European countries the middle finger and more or less rejected the agreement that they should finally show resolve towards Russia."
Putin provides Trump with a pretext
The aim was a ceasefire: If an ultimatum has no consequences, it is no ultimatum, argues the military expert. With the idea of the Istanbul talks, Putin "basically gave Trump an excuse to continue doing nothing, and Trump was happy to do that."
The US president therefore publicly suggested Selenskyj meet with Putin in Turkey via a Truth social post. And this despite the fact that "everyone except Trump" knew that the Kremlin was never really interested in peace negotiations: "It was just a stalling tactic."
In order to demonstrate Washington's unconditional desire for peace, Kiev then agreed to a meeting with Putin, which in turn was widely reported in the press, explains Nielsen - and explains why this is unrealistic.
Why Putin will not negotiate with Zelenskyi
On the one hand, the Kremlin quite simply wants to avoid the impression that Ukraine is making the announcements. "But more importantly, Putin doesn't see Zelensky as an equal. He doesn't see them on the same level, and that's why he doesn't want to give Zelensky legitimacy."
Added to this is the Russian narrative that Zelensky is wrongly president because Ukraine has not held elections: "Zelensky no longer has the right to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine," says the Dane, interpreting Moscow's view.
Donald Trump is now thinking aloud about meeting with Putin himself - "because he believes that he is the only person who can really make a deal with Putin", says Nielsen. It soon became known that the 78-year-old would be speaking to the Kremlin leader on the phone today, Monday.
"Putin is making a mockery of Trump's peace efforts"
New conditions will be raised that will further delay the processes, predicts Nielsen: the stalling tactics are working. Europe cannot rely on the USA: "Trump is constantly looking for an excuse to align himself with Russia."
"Putin is making a mockery of Trump's peace efforts", analyzes "Sky News": "Look, nothing will happen until Putin and I meet", Trump explains his inconsistency, according to the British broadcaster. Questions about the consequences for Russia, which even conservative US broadcasters are now asking, are being persistently dodged by Trump, it is further observed.
The talks that took place in Istanbul paint a bleak picture of the future. Not only did the Kremlin make demands that , according to a Ukrainian diplomat, are "detached from reality and go far beyond anything that has been discussed so far". According to Sky News, Kiev should hand over additional regions as a sign of goodwill.
Russia gets personal: "Losing even more loved ones"
The Kremlin also makes it clear that Russia will not stop. "We are ready to fight for a year, two, three years - however long it takes," the head of the Istanbul negotiating delegation is quoted as saying. "We have been fighting Sweden for 21 years. How long are you prepared to fight?"
But that's not all: "And Peter the Great: do you know who financed him?" asks Vladimir Medinsky rhetorically and answers himself: "England and France. If it hadn't been for that, Sweden would still be a great power today."
"Sky News" claims to have learned that the Russians have also personally threatened their Ukrainian counterparts: "Perhaps some of those sitting around this table will lose even more of their loved ones," Medinsky is reported to have said in Istanbul - Kiev's Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya lost his 23-year-old nephew in the war.
What will a phone call between Trump and Putin achieve in this situation?