Steve Rosenberg
Russian Editor
Reuters
Russian media was buoyant after Putin’s call with Trump
Judging by some of today’s headlines in Russia today, Moscow thinks the latest telephone conversation between Putin and Trump has been successful – certainly for the Kremlin.
“Putin and Trump have agreed to cooperate with the Ukrainian resolution,” Izvestia concluded.
“A record-breaking Putin Trump Call,” declares Komsomolskaya Pravda. The paper’s website adds, “When things were standing, Russia won a diplomatic victory here.”
Why are some of Russia claiming “winning” after these two hours of calls?
Perhaps by the end of it, Vladimir Putin had not been pressured to make major concessions to Ukraine or the United States. On the contrary, he effectively rejected President Trump’s idea of an immediate, unconditional 30-day ceasefire.
Instead of squeezing the threat of even more severe sanctions and penalties on Moscow, the US administration responded by praised the Kremlin leaders to ensure Russia was registered in its plan.
“We got a great call,” Donald Trump told Fox News.
“President Putin will praise everything he did today to bring his country closer to the final peace deal,” Trump envoy Steve Witkoff said.
EPA
Putin refused an unconditional ceasefire and set his own objectives during his call with Trump
Not only did Moscow not agree to an unconditional ceasefire, but President Putin set his own preconditions for peace.
They include the end of Western military aid to Kiev and the sharing of intelligence news with Ukrainians, as well as a halt to mobilization in Ukraine. Such a state is widely seen as a way to ensure Ukraine’s surrender.
It’s hard to see Kyiv agreeing to either of them.
But could Moscow have allowed the Trump administration to ultimately convince that such conditions would be accepted? If so, will Washington force Ukraine to accept them?
It may depend on whether the Kremlin can convince President Trump that it will come from building a better connection with Moscow than protecting the corner of Ukraine.
Watch: BBC’s Tom Bateman unlocks Russian ceasefire conditions
In conversations with Americans, Russian officials have already hanging a variety of economic and financial carrots, and have already hanging a variety of economic and financial carrots about how beneficial Russia-US relations can be if both countries can reinvigorate bilateral relations and tackle joint projects.
Vladimir Putin recently raised the prospects for US-Russia cooperation in aluminum production and rare mineral extraction.
The message seems to be passing through.
“We want more trade with Russia,” Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.
“They have some of the most valuable things to us, including rare earths. They have a big chunk of the world’s largest real estate. They have what we can use.”
Moscow may wish Donald Trump to prioritize getting that “Russian real estate” chunk of its “Russian real estate” when it comes to securing an acceptable deal to end the war.
That’s the point that resonated in the Pro Kremlin izvestia newspaper today.
“Moscow’s logic is that by making its economic ties with the United States highly profitable, cutting them would be too expensive for the United States.”
After Ukraine agreed to an unconditional ceasefire a week ago, the US administration said, “The ball is [Russia’s] court”.
Now that Vladimir Putin has refused the deal and set his own terms, the Kremlin leader has cast it back to the American “court.”
However, Russia and the US continue to debate both in Ukraine and in relations between the US and Russia.
And it is these negotiations that are likely to affect Donald Trump’s next move.
