A VICTORY FOR PUTIN
The unanimous opinion of American observers is that Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, scored a major victory by merely securing an invitation to visit the United States. The embellishment of the victory by a red carpet welcome, a warm handshake, a Jet Fighter Escort, a ride with President Trump in his limousine and speaking first at the press conference, has infuriated Western journalists and observers. The isolation of President Putin by the West has ended.
It is difficult not to recognize and acknowledge the deft political maneuvers by Putin who has resisted the demands by the US and the EU for a ceasefire. Putin agreed to talks but insisted that the terms to end the war must first be settled before a ceasefire can be implemented. The talks took place, but agreements were limited to the exchange of prisoners. This bought Putin some time. But as the war continued, President Trump became increasingly impatient and threatened more sanctions against Russia and secondary sanctions against countries that bought Russian oil. Eventually, some arms sales by the US to Ukraine resumed and tariffs of 50 percent were imposed on India, a major purchaser of Russian oil.
Clearly Putin had to do something to de-escalate, from Russia’s perspective, the danger of a restored US and EU unity as regards Ukraine that had prevailed during the Biden Presidency but had dissolved during the early months of the Trump Presidency. He took the enormous gamble, fraught with unanticipated hurdles and impediments to seek a summit meeting with President Trump, who agreed. It is not known what President Putin wanted to convey to President Trump. But a hint could be taken from a statement by Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, who said in February 2025 that the US is understanding Russia’s position better.
It could be that President Putin needed to convince President Trump of the circumstances leading up to the war, including NATO’s eastward expansion, its 2008 decision to admit Georgia and Ukraine as NATO members, the US and EU inspired coup in 2014 that removed a neutral, pro-Russian President for a pro-NATO President, the violation of the Minsk agreement and later admission by Chancellor Angela Merkel that it was never intended to be implemented, the virtual civil war in the Donbas and killing of thousands of its Russian-speaking civilians. Above all, Putin needed to explain the existential threat felt by Russia from NATO’s potential placement of short-range nuclear weapons in Ukraine if it joined NATO. Putin did not need to convince President Trump that these things are true. He merely needed him to understand Russia’s fears.
The opportunity may also have been taken by President Putin to dispel the suspicion propagated in the West that he intends to invade and incorporate Ukraine into a greater Russia, then to wage war on NATO and re-create the Soviet empire. It would not have been difficult to convince President Trump that such propaganda comes right out of the Cold War playbook, has no basis in reality and that there is absolutely no evidence for it in Putin’s words or Russia’s actions which are clearly confined to the perceived threat to Russia’s security emanating from NATO’s push to incorporate Ukraine and Ukraine’s willingness to comply. If Russia is having such difficulty in completing its operation in Ukraine, no rational person can conclude that it has the capacity, apart from inclination, to invade Ukraine, then other NATO countries, two of which have nuclear weapons, are also protected with the US’s nuclear umbrella and are obliged to come to each other’s assistance.
It is not known if the talks centered on the above but, equally, it is not known what else could have convinced President Trump to moderate, and even abandon, the expectations of a ceasefire or at least substantial progress in the discussions. If there were any, they were not announced.
In a flurry of activity immediately prior to the summit, the EU and Ukraine were able to convince President Trump not to make any commitments to President Putin that would result in Ukraine giving up territory, abandoning its drive to join NATO or seeking security guarantees. Whatever the strategy of the EU and NATO, the effect of its conditions is to secure the surrender of Russia by imposing a ceasefire that would effectively deprive Russia of the advantages it would secure by completing its territorial acquisition. How they expect to achieve this miracle with Russia’s continuing advances on the battlefield is not known. As it stands, Russia is on course to win the war and to secure the terms it seeks which are: recognition of its territorial gains; abandonment of the quest for NATO membership; a limitation to the size of Ukraine’s military forces; neutrality.
In the days leading up to the Summit, the western media was awash with reports of Putin’s capacity, intelligence and abilities and his training in the black arts by the KGB. The West warned that President Trump needed to be cautious and alert. It is not known if President Trump was listening, but the refusal of the West to face reality on the ground will only lead to a frozen conflict and decades of tension and bitterness in Europe.
