For Russia, Donald Trump has a lot to offer, even without a Ukraine deal
Donald Trump says he is focused on stopping the «death march» in Ukraine «as soon as possible.»
But for Russian President Vladimir Putin, ceasefire talks with Trump are a means to much broader ends.
Russian and U.S. officials are set to meet in Saudi Arabia on Monday to deepen their negotiations about technical details of a partial ceasefire to halt attacks on energy facilities and on ships in the Black Sea. While Ukraine says it's ready for a full truce, Putin has made it clear that he will seek a wide range of concessions first.
The upshot: Russia appears determined to squeeze as many benefits as possible from Trump's desire for a Ukraine peace deal, even as it slow-walks the negotiations. Viewed from Russia, better ties with the United States are an economic and geopolitical boon — one that may be achieved even as Russian missiles continue pounding Ukraine.
Interviews last week with senior Russian foreign-policy figures at a security conference in New Delhi suggested that Russia saw negotiations over Ukraine and over U.S.-Russia ties as running on two separate tracks. Putin continues to seek a far-reaching victory in Ukraine but is humoring Trump's ceasefire push to seize the benefits of a thaw with the United States.
Live Events
Vyacheslav Nikonov, a deputy chair of the foreign affairs committee of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said Trump and Putin were developing a «bilateral agenda» that was «not connected to Ukraine.»
«Ukraine is running its course,» Nikonov said in an interview on the sidelines of the New Delhi conference, called the Raisina Dialogue. «The offensive is ongoing,» Nikonov added. «But I think that for Putin, relations with America are more important than the question of Ukraine