Towards today’s call, Donald Trump has created a great conversation with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
But the outcome seems almost never to scream.
The Russian president gave the US leaders only enough to claim that he had made progress towards peace in Ukraine without appearing to have been played by the Kremlin.
Trump can point to Putin’s pledge to halt attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over 30 days. If that actually happens, it will provide some relief to the civilians.
But what the US wanted from Russia wasn’t close to a complete and unconditional ceasefire.
“A very scary war” Trump claims he is able to stop.
And Putin, a man charged by the ICC as a suspected war criminal, was given a leg up to the top tier of global politics.
Russian state media reports that calls from the two presidents lasted more than two hours. Kremlin Reading – Call Account – is long even for 500 words.
Present the conversation as a chatter. They obviously discussed ice hockey. Details that are rapped up by a Russian audience.
After three years as a pariah of the Western world and long before, Russia has been working directly with the US administration they want to be involved in.
The two leaders also discuss peace and “global security” in the Middle East.
The Kremlin must be struggling to believe in transformation.
Prior to the call, some people wondered whether Donald Trump would actually put some pressure on Russia. After all, it was clear that the ceasefire was stagnant for over a week.
However, there are no signs of Putin’s dress down, just as Ukrainian leader Voldimi Zelensky had to endure in an oval office two weeks ago.
Accounts from both countries suggest that nothing has been changed.
Russia repeats that it wants peace. But instead of grounding drones and silence the guns, they’re messing up how a ceasefire that doesn’t exist yet is being monitored.
On the other hand, it adds more conditions aimed at crippling Kiev’s ability to resist.
One demand is that both the flow of weapons and intelligence from allies to Ukraine must be stopped.
For Ukrainians, the only measure of hope is that the US does not agree to this.
They can also point to the call as more evidence that Russia is not interested in ending its invasion.
But all of that story will bring minimal relief from the suffering of Ukraine.
That must be a shame for our diplomacy.
But for the Kremlin, it will feel like a pretty decent day before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
