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.
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.