January 17, 2025 | The Telegraph

Trump must not underestimate Putin’s ambitions to be a modern day Tsar

As Russia grinds forward on the battlefield, the West must not deceive itself into allowing the Kremlin to permanently subjugate Kyiv
January 17, 2025 | The Telegraph

Trump must not underestimate Putin’s ambitions to be a modern day Tsar

As Russia grinds forward on the battlefield, the West must not deceive itself into allowing the Kremlin to permanently subjugate Kyiv

Excerpt

As he prepares to take office, President-elect Donald Trump says he hope to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin “very quickly” in pursuit of a speedy end to the war in Ukraine. Trump has suggested he believes Putin will be open to compromise, as the Russian president surely cannot be “too thrilled about the way [the war has] gone.” 

While the Kremlin has expressed readiness to talk, the incoming administration must not be fooled. Moscow views these potential negotiations as a way to achieve its longstanding objective of subjugating Ukraine, not to reach a genuine compromise. The Kremlin seeks to use American eagerness for peace to help it achieve that objective. If this ploy works, it will succeed not so much because of Putin’s ability to deceive us but because we deceived ourselves. 

Ivana Stradner is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Issues:

Issues:

International Organizations Military and Political Power Russia U.S. Defense Policy and Strategy Ukraine

Topics:

Topics:

Russia Donald Trump Ukraine Moscow Vladimir Putin Kremlin Ivana Stradner