LOS ANGELES (OC).–Showing that the Ukraine War has morphed now into a war between the European Union and the Russian Federation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the EU was sabotaging President Donald Trump’s peace efforts. Peskov said the war was now between the EU and Moscow, no longer involving the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin once saw the U.S. as his main enemy under former President Joe Biden. But with Trump in office and ending Biden’s proxy war against the Russian Federation, Peskov now identified the real obstacles to Ukraine peace. “The European warring party is maintaining its fundamental course, it is not giving in,” Peskov said, referring to EU weapons shipment to Ukraine. Peskov sees the new war as one between the EU and Moscow, now taking over for where Biden left off when he finished his term in office.
Trump’s peace efforts have been ignored by the EU Peskov said the sidelines of a China visit to discuss with Chinese President Xi Jinping the new world order with China, India and Russia joining a powerful economic alliance. Trump can’t continue to hit China and India with more tariffs because they buy Russian oil. If the war ends, the sanctions on Russia would be lifted and Russia could resume selling oil and natural gas to anyone at prices consistent with the rest of the market. “The Europeans are obstructing these efforts,” Peskov said, referring to attempts by Trump to come up with a realistic peace plan to end the Ukraine War. Trump sees Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a dragging his feet, letting the EU to dictate terms of any peace settlement. So far, Zelensky has refused to accept the inevitable of swapping land-for-peace to settle the conflict.
Peskov said Russia is ready to resolve the Ukraine War but it requires delegations from Russia and Ukraine to do the hard work to reach the compromises necessary to satisfy both sides. Shortly after the war started Feb. 24, 2022, Putin offered Zelensky a way out of the war. He asked Zelensky to recognize the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk and Russian sovereignty over Crimea. Zelensky refused and opted for war with the Kremlin. Three-and-a-half-years later, Ukraine has lost 25% of its best sovereign territory on the Black Sea coast. Putin continues to seize more Ukrainian land on the 600-mile battlefront, where new territory has been seized daily. Trump urged Zelensky in the strongest possible terms Feb. 28 in the Oval office to cut his losses, end the war and start the long, costly rebuilding process. Zelensky threw and fit and was asked to leave the White House.
Putin continues the Ukraine War with the same ferocity because he sees no signs from Zelensky that he’s serious about peace. If Zelensky continues to strike Russia oil refineries deep inside Russia, Putin feels he has every right to continue striking Ukraine wherever he sees fit. Zelensky complains that Putin continues to hit Ukrainian cities, proving he’s not interested in any real peace talks. But Zelensky and his EU backers mention nothing about Zelensky’s attacks on Russian oil installation deep inside the country. If Zelensky wants to catch Putin’s attention, he would stop hitting Russian oil installations. Putin met with Trump Aug. 15 in Anchorage, Alaska with most experts thinking they’d have something to announce. But instead of announcing a freeze on the air campaign, Putin said he was no longer in favor of working on a temporary ceasefire deal.
Trump and Putin agreed at their summit to redouble efforts on a long-term settlement of the Ukraine War. Instead of finding a cooperative partner in Ukraine, they left it to the European Union to come up with a better fix. EU officials, led by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, want Putin to remove his troops from Ukraine’s sovereign land. Since that’s not happening, how has the EU helped Zelensky come up with an end to the war? Members of the EU have their own agenda, with some worried that Putin will seek to control former Soviet satellites like the Baltic States and maybe even Poland. Whatever fears exist in the EU, there no factual basis to Zelensky’s accusations that Putin seeks to conquer other EU countries. Where did Zelensky come up with his false narrative?
If Putin say anything from Zelensky other than complete defiance he may consider letting up on the air war while peace delegation work out the details of a permanent settlement. Putin is not inclined to meet with Zelensky until both peace delegations have worked out all the terms-and-contions to a final peace agreement. EU officials demanded that Putin meet with Zelensky, threatening him with new economic sanctions. EU officials can’t explain how hitting Putin with new sanctions would hasten the peace process, only push Putin further away from settling the conflict. Trump has backed off his threat to more sanctions realizing they would do nothing other than put Russia back on its heels. As long as Zelensky and the EU make unrealistic demands, they can expect Putin to continue the war unabated. If Zelensky and EU want peace, they have to get to work to make it happen.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor o OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
