LOS ANGELES.–Speaking to leaders of the Munich Security Conference in Washington today, 40-year-old President J.D. Vance said he thinks 72-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin maybe asking for too much to end the Ukraine War. President Donald Trump, 78, said before he thought Ukraine was the difficult party but Vance plays good-op, bad-cop with Trump, now leaning toward blaming the Kremlin. European Union officials blame Putin for the war and for setting impossible conditions for ending the conflict. Moscow rejected the idea of a 30-day ceasefire something 47-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had pushed for. “The Russia are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they’re asking for too much,” Vance said, saying he’d like to see Russia and Ukraine sit down for some direct talks.
Vance expressed skepticism whether or not the U.S. could broker a deal with Moscow that didn’t include the Ukrainian side. “We would like both the Russians and the Ukrainians to actually agree on some basic guidelines for sitting down and talking to one another,” Vance said. “That’s the next big step we’d like to take,” knowing that getting Putin and Zelensky in the same room would be a challenge in itself. Everyone saw what happened Feb. 28 when Zelensky met with Trump and Vance in the Oval office, where the Ukrainian leader lost it, eventually escorted out of the White House. Vance’s expectation of a meeting between Putin and Zelensky would be highly unrealistic anytime soon. Zelensky considers Putin the epitome of the next Adolf Hitler, refusing to sit in the same room. At one time, Zelensky ruled out every dealing with Putin, calling him a war criminal.
Vance toned down the rhetoric this time around, avoiding the incendiary statements made in a speech at the Munich Security Conference. Vance didn’t know whether the U.S. could mediate between Moscow and Kiev, without having some direct contact. Putin wasn’t in a conciliatory mood before believing, after three years of war, he was the victor negotiating with the vanquished Ukraine. Putin has pushed further into Ukrainian territory, taking more sovereign land daily. Trump once told Zelensky he doesn’t hold any cards in the current peace discussions. Vance stressed the importance of U.S. ties to Brussels, despite differences over the EU when it came to making peace with Russia. EU officials aren’t ready to reconcile relations with the Kremlin like Trump. Vance told the EU delegation in Washington that they are on the “same civilization team.”
When it comes to making peace, it’s proven far more complicated than Putin just deciding to end the war and sign a peace deal. Putin knows that Trump is behind him in restoring normal U.S.-Russian diplomatic relations, after four years of disaster under Biden. Trump wasn’t the one who waged war against the Kremlin. Since taking office, Trump has been cleaning up Biden’s messes. What could be a bigger mess than starting a war with the Kremlin? No other president in post WW II history started a war with the Kremlin other than Biden. When it comes to ending the Ukraine War, Putin wants an ironclad guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO. Putin also wants assurances that the U.S. and NATO will no longer supply Kiev unlimited lethal weapons to prosecute war with Russia. So, there’s considerations beyond just agreeing to a ceasefire.
Europe takes Ukraine’s side in the war, calling on Putin to remove all his troops from Ukraine if he wants peace. Well, everyone knows that it’s not going to happen, especially with Putin controlling Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhizhia, Donesk and Luhansk. Putin wants assurances that in any peace deal he would maintain control of Ukraine’s territory. “But to come off as somehow neutral between Russia and Ukraine is morally repugnant. On side is the aggressor, one the victim fight for its survival. Nice speech can’t change that,” said an unnamed EU official. EU officials essentially loath Trump’s decision to reset normal U.S.-Russian relations, taking the position that Russia is the enemy. Trump wants Putin to know that he’s ended the Biden proxy war policy against the Kremlin, seeking to reestablish Moscow as a cooperative global partner.
Brussels must decide what it wants to do with its relations with the Kremlin. But they can’t call Trump a hypocrite for reestablishing normal diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation, a cornerstone of the post WW II world order for the last 80 years. Biden decision to fund proxy war was the most destructive foreign policy decision is U.S. history. Over three years of war has practically destroyed Ukraine’s infrastructure, killed thousands, exiled millions and left the European Continent in a state of war. Brussels must decide on its own the future of the EU’s relations with the Kremlin. Trump decided it was in the interests of U.S. foreign policy and national security for the U.S. to reset normal U.S.-Russian relations. Zelensky doesn’t like it but it’s not up to Kiev to set U.S. foreign policy and national security. EU officials should rethink their position on Ukraine.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
