Russia has rejected Trump’s “ultimatum” for Moscow to sign a ceasefire deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days on Tuesday as “unacceptable,” calling for continued negotiations and insisting that the invasion ordered by Vladimir Putin would continue until its goals are achieved.
In response to President Trump’s threat to impose 100% secondary tariffs on countries that do business with Russia if Putin’s government does not agree to a deal to end the war in that timeframe, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Tuesday that “any attempts to make demands, especially ultimatums, are unacceptable to us,” according to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.
The war would be over if Putin just took his troops out of Ukraine immediately and indefinitely. Even Trump can grasp that concept. It’s not hard at all.
But Putin won’t because he’s too far into a delusion that was first one of grandeur but has become one of sunk cost.
Trump might be able to grasp that too, but I’m not sure that his mind wouldn’t then immediately reject it because its roots are in qualities he admires in himself and others.
I’ve read because they’re on a war economy, stopping the war would be catastrophic for Russia’s economy, and probably to Putin himself. But also continuing the war is also doing serious damage. That’s why Putin will never agree to any ceasefire.
In addition, there are many Russians who are waiting for their country to crush the “Banderites” so ending the war could also hit Russia government hard, in my opinion.
We’ve also read that Putin is days away from dying of cancer, sanctions will end war in days, fighting with WWII shovels, using WWII outdated weapons.
Putin can’t stop without crashing Russia’s wartime economy. If he does that, he next gets to experience defenestration.
Putin’s talk of peace translates as, “I need to slow the roll so I can rearm.”
I don’t think that Putin is “delusional,” he is just trying to do what Russia has been trying to do for centuries - destroy Ukrainian culture, identity, independence, in short, assimilate Ukrainians. And withdrawing troops from Ukraine will not be such an easy decision for Putin and Russia, after several years of full-scale war, that is.
This line about “It’s as easy as leaving Ukraine” was only somewhat true in the beginning when it was more of a “special military operation” and less of a war. As others have pointed out, a lot has changed economically and most likely politically. Putin isn’t an absolute master that can do anything on a whim with no repercussions whatsoever. Like any other place and time, the ruling class only gets to rule if enough of the working class isn’t destitute. If the ruling class gets enough people into poverty, heads are very likely to roll.