Frustrated but confident, Donald Trump admitted Russia could be "dragging their feet." More than two months after he returned to the White House, his "contract for peace" negotiations have become bogged down, thwarting his dream of bringing a swift end to three years of war in Ukraine. On the other side, Vladimir Putin's Kremlin has contented itself with offering a few false concessions, yet it has also reiterated its maximalist positions and imposed its timeframe: Playing for time in order to keep advancing on the battlefield, and negotiating from a position of strength when around the table.
After the two-and-a-half-hour telephone call between Trump and Putin on March 18, followed by 12 hours of talks between their delegations in Riyadh, on March 24, no date has yet been set for a summit between the two presidents. Above all, there has been no joint declaration, which would come as a prelude to an agreement. Instead, there have only been separate statements.
Each time, Washington trumpets its success, and Moscow tempers it. Their statements announce illusory progress. Yet, an analysis of the wording confirms that their content differs. After the phone call between the two presidents, the White House enthusiastically announced a ceasefire on energy infrastructure; the Kremlin hastened to cut this limited cessation of hostilities down to 30 days. After laborious talks between emissaries in Riyadh, the US congratulated itself on having secured a truce in the Black Sea, while Russia warned that this would only happen after the lifting of Western sanctions, which, it claimed, target its exports of grain and fertilizers.
Asymmetrical positions
"Full of unsaid elements, these agreements, with their false pretenses, mask the reality: Trump did not obtain a total ceasefire. He thought he was the strongest, but Putin dominates," summed up a senior European diplomat familiar with the Ukraine negotiations. "Trump doesn't want peace, he just wants to be left alone," said the diplomat, adding that Washington's priority was no longer Ukraine's or Europe's security, but a general Russian-American rapprochement – with juicy economic contracts.
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