Putin has said yes to Trump’s plan for an immediate ceasefire but then attached lots of conditions.
As I’ve noted earlier - Putin sees this idea of a ceasefire as an opportunity to negotiate further concessions.
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Included herein Putin demands that Ukraine is not allowed to mobilize or re-arm. I take this as Putin saying the U.S. has to again stop military supplies and intelligence to Ukraine. That is a total deal breaker for Ukraine and remember that Ze only agreed to the ceasefire on condition that Trump lifted the pause of US military and intelligence support.
Remember here that Zelensky was not allowed to add his own conditionality for agreeing to the ceasefire - it was just a yes or no answer.
If Trump now starts negotiating conditions with Putin for agreeing the ceasefire, then Russia is being given favorable treatment by Trump.
Fact is Putin is not giving an unconditional Yes and so should be sanctioned aggressively by Trump if the U.S. is really being even handed.
If Trump is the tough negotiator he suggests then he should do what he said and sanction the pips off Russia to get Putin to the table.
Reprinted from the author’s @tashecon blog See the original here.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
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