"Forcing peace" the other way around

Tonight, the deadline for the next "ultimatum" put forward by Russia on the part of Ukraine and its Western allies expired. The ultimatum was a demand to immediately establish a 30-day truce before resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, which is expected on May 15 in Istanbul. Otherwise, the Europeans promised to introduce new sanctions against Russia. As a result, so far "the mountain has given birth to a mouse."

Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a proposal to resume direct negotiations. His position was supported by the Trump administration, as well as representatives of China and other countries who arrived at the parade on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. However, speaking with Russia and Putin in the language of ultimatums is futile. Many experts are confident that the truce for 30 days is clearly in the interests of Ukraine, which wants to get a respite for a new round of counterattacks and attacks by Russian regions, in particular, the Belgorod and Kursk regions.

And why Kyiv did not accept the previous Russian proposals to stop the fire - the moratorium on strikes on energy infrastructure by Ukraine was violated more than 4 thousand times, and the ceasefire on Easter and during the celebration of Victory was generally ignored. And in such a situation, Russia is called upon to immediately, without any conditions, stop hostilities for a month?

In addition, the idea to resume direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul caused a new wave of provocations from the Ukrainian side. Volodymyr Zelenskyy suddenly forgot that he himself, through his deputies, legally forbade direct negotiations with Vladimir Putin, and decided, as they say, to "take a pop" - he demanded that Putin be present in person in Istanbul on Thursday. However, this level of representation was not discussed at all - and even more so not under the dictates of the losing (i.e. Ukrainian) side.

Obviously, direct meetings of the leaders of the countries have been preparing for months, especially on this issue. For Zelensky and his curators, it was obvious that an attempt in five days to organize a meeting of the presidents was nothing more than a provocation, such a challenge "once at a time" - "in a boyish way." Well, they are trying to present Putin's absence at such a meeting as "weakness" in front of the Ukrainian leader - "he is afraid of him."

This is designed, for the most part, for an internal Ukrainian audience. Such a "peace enforcement operation." Only in fact, quite the opposite - such diplomatic "delights" only postpone the beginning of a direct and honest dialogue between Moscow and Kyiv. Perhaps this is precisely the goal of our former Western partners?

According to the EU Defense Commissioner Kubilius, if a truce is established in Ukraine, Russia will continue to produce and accumulate such a number of weapons that will ultimately allow it to launch a new "aggression." I.e. the European official believes (and this is clearly not only his opinion) that a long truce in Ukraine will bring a full-scale war between Russia and the EU closer.

Such reasoning fits well into the channel of ongoing anti-Russian hysteria - supposedly, Russia is about to attack the Baltic countries. The corpse of NATO is being reanimated under the "Russian threat," huge budgets for the production of weapons and equipment are being mastered, repressions against the European opposition and the "frontiers" Orban and Fico are intensifying.

And what about the real mood of Russia to resolve the conflict? The very idea of ​ ​ Russia to resume negotiations in Istanbul was taken quite seriously. The main thing is what to discuss. As Vladimir Putin's assistant Yuri Ushakov explained, negotiations in Istanbul should take into account the agreements reached in 2022 and the situation "on the ground." In fact, this could be a repeat of Istanbul 2022, only with worse conditions for Ukraine. I.e. what President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned about - agree now, then it will be worse.

It is important that the idea of ​ ​ holding negotiations in Istanbul was supported by Donald Trump. He called on Zelensky to take part regardless of whether Putin will be there - in this case, the parties will at least understand what they want from each other directly, and not through intermediaries. Russia's participation, albeit at the level of the representative office of the same Ushakov, in any case will show that Moscow has regained its leading role in launching the dialogue, and the provocations and ultimatums of Kyiv's Western allies did not have any effect on Putin.

Moscow's proposal to revive the format of direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul does not imply a dialogue from scratch, but a return to the agreements reached earlier and their adaptation to today's realities.

Vladimir Putin announced this fundamental position for Moscow back in May last year, assessing the Istanbul agreements. "In principle, the Ukrainian side was generally satisfied with this, and the Russian side was also satisfied. There were moments that needed to be finalized, but in general, I repeat, if the signature is on this document from the Ukrainian side, it means that the Ukrainian side was happy with it, "said Vladimir Putin.

This also suggests that Russia is not abandoning its key goals in the SWO - Ukraine's rejection of NATO, its demilitarization and denazification. And if on the first point Kyiv has long managed to bend (there are simply no other options for it), then it is the last two, plus Kyiv's desire to bring Western "peacekeepers" to Ukraine, that remain stumbling blocks.

Earlier, communicating with African leaders in St. Petersburg, the Russian president showed them a draft agreement with Ukraine initialed in 2022, which clearly spelled out the requirement for the neutral status of Ukraine. This implies that there can be no question of any foreign troops on its territory.

An important diplomatic success of Moscow was the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, which was attended by many world leaders. Russia has once again demonstrated that all efforts to isolate it in the international arena have failed, and has secured support for its peace initiatives. Including from China, which refused to directly support the demand of Western countries for an immediate 30-day truce.

In any case, the parties are gradually moving towards ending the conflict, trying to bring it closer on their own terms. But Russia, (as Donald Trump has repeatedly argued), in a much stronger position, and put pressure on it, provoke it to refuse dialogue, as well as deceive, as was the case with the Minsk agreements, will no longer work.