LOS ANGELES.–Complaining about German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said the Merz and other EU leaders failed to follow through with new sanctions against the Kremlin for Putin’s failure to meet in Istanbul face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Nauseda said that Merz undermined the European Union’s credibility by not following through with sanctions against Putin. “And it does not just affect the credibility of our sanctions, but the credibility of all our measures toward Russia and our support for Ukraine,” said Nauseda, failing to mention the he and other EU members undermined 78-year-old President Donald Trump’s peace efforts that were an inch of ending the over three-year bloody conflict on the European Continent. Talk about hypocrisy from Nauseda pointing fingers at Merz when the EU sabotaged Trump peace efforts.
Trump has been reluctant to jump on the EU sanction bandwagon knowing it would antagonize Putin, certainly not promote and end to the conflict. Russia sees the war with Ukraine as an existential crisis with the European Union now threatening the Russian Federation by supplying cash-and-arms to Ukraine. Putin once saw the U.S. as Ukraine’s No. 1 benefactor but now sees that switching to the EU since Trump came to power. Trump wants, about all else, to restore normal diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation after Biden all but destroyed them during his four years in office. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all former Soviet satellites, are all in on more sanctions, whether or not it helps end the Ukraine war. All three countries fear that if Russia wins the Ukraine War, Putin would be emboldened to move on to take over the Baltic States.
Last month French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and former Polish President Donald Tusk demanded that Russia agree to 30 day ceasefire or face more economic sanctions. All EU leaders know that Trump opposes more sanctions, seeing them as counterproductive trying to bring Putin to the peace table. Nauseda errantly thinks that if the EU backs Ukraine with more cash-and-arms, it will lead to peace talks, knowing that Putin already feels ganged up on by the EU. “We have often announced that we will support Ukraine and supply combat aircraft , long-range missiles and ammunition. But we are not in a position to keep these promises,” said Nauseda, realizing that the EU is not prepared to takeover funding the war with the Kremlin from the United States. Nauseda thinks it helps to coerce Putin.
Putin isn’t going to capitulate to potentially more threats of EU sanctions, only stiffen his resolve to not end the war. EU officials made a big mistake letting Zelensky dictate the terms of any settlement with Russia. Trump has a peace deal worked out to over 90% with Putin when the EU stepped in to undermine Trump’s peace efforts. Zelensky convinced the EU that Trump was about to give too much away to Putin, agreeing to trade land-for-peace. Zelensky wants no part of trading land-for-peace and convinced the EU to back him up. Now the EU has a real problem undermining Trump’s peace talks with Putin, all to apparently back Zelensky up getting him a better peace deal. But instead of ending the Ukraine War, the EU has extended it indefinitely making peace with the Kremlin next to impossible. Zelensky thinks that if Merz tells him he backs him up, that enough.
EU leaders like Merz have no inside track on finding a formula that ends the Ukraine War. Zelensky has many demands, all of which boiling down to arms-and-cash from the EU. Had the EU backed Trump in negotiating the best possible deal with Putin, Zelensky would have been in much better shape. As it stands now, EU intervention has only postponed any possible ceasefire or peace deal with the Russian Federation. Zelensky needs to stop playing the EU off the U.S. and let Trump negotiate and end to the war. No EU country can afford to subsidize Ukraine’s war with the Kremlin, nor can they guarantee that Ukraine best a better deal. Trump was within 90% of getting a deal with Putin to end the conflict. No both sides have escalated the war to the point that any ceasefire or peace deal seems out of reach. EU officials should tell Zelensky to let Trump negotiate a peace deal.
European Union officials need to stop meddling in the peace process and let Trump work out the best possible deal for Zelensky. Zelensky thinks going after Russia’s strategic bombing fleet gives him added leverage in ceasefire and peace talks. Zelensky has done everything possible to sabotage Trump’s peace effors, including denouncing him at the Munich Security Conference. Zelesky can’t get past that Trump wants normal diplomatic relation with his mortal enemy. Trump wants strong ties with Russia precisely to get Zelensky the best possible deal to end the war. EU leaders thought that placating Zelensky would result in an eventual peace deal. Zelensky doesn’t want to admit to the Ukrainian people that he’s lost 20-25% of Ukraine best sovereign territory to the Kremlin. Now that it’s getting down to peace talks, Zelensky refuses to trade-land-for-peace, the only way to end the war.
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.
