BBC News
Russia is ready for a fighting of fighting, explains Vladimir Putin, but “there are nuances”. These nuances which he exposed before the talks with us sent to the Kremlin are so essential to his thought that they could burst all hope of a 30-day ceasefire.
They demand that he had throughout the large -scale invasion of Russia. And for Ukraine and its Western partners. Many of them will prove to be unacceptable or impossible to achieve.
“We agree with the proposals to stop hostilities,” he started positively, only to add: “This cessation must be such that it would cause long-term peace and eliminate the deep causes of this crisis.”
No one has disagreed with the need for long-term peace, but Putin’s idea of ​​the deep causes of war revolves around Ukraine’s desire to exist as a sovereign state, beyond the orbit of Russia.
Ukraine wants to be part of NATO and the European Union – so much so that it is consecrated in the Constitution.
President Trump has already questioned NATO members, but Putin repeatedly rejected the idea of ​​Ukraine as a state.
And that underlies a lot of nuances that he has sketched.
He wants to prevent Ukraine from strengthening its army and reconstructing its supply of arms – there would therefore be no deliveries from the West. He wants to know who would make sure it has been verified.
From the start of this war, Putin demanded the “demilitarization” of Ukraine, which is an anathema for kyiv and his allies.
Essentially, Putin is looking for upside down safety guarantees.
Would Russia accept to stop the rearior or the mobilization of its forces? It seems improbable and there was no suspicion of concession on his part, while he was addressed to journalists in the Kremlin.
Putin has just returned in a bullish mood from the front line to Kursk, a Russian border region which has been partially occupied since last August by Ukraine.
Russia has the upper hand in Kursk. Putin clearly feels that he is negotiating from a position of strength and does not want to lose it.
“If we stop military actions for 30 days, what does that mean? All those who are there leave the battle?”
The Russian Defense Ministry announced Thursday that its forces had now taken control of the largest city that the Ukrainians had managed to seize, Sudzha. Putin says that all that the Ukrainians have left are a corner, so why would Russia stop now?
“If a physical blockage occurs in the coming days, no one will be able to leave at all. There will only be two options – to get or die.”
The same thing applied to the entire front line of 1,000 km (620 miles), where he said that the situation on the ground was quickly changing, the Russian troops “progressed in almost all regions”.
This is not the case, because most of the front is in an impasse, even if Russia has had recent success in the East.
Putin believes that a 30-day ceasefire would deprive Russia from his advantage and allowed Ukrainians to regroup and rearm.
“What are our guarantees that nothing will be authorized to occur,” he asked for rhetorically.
For the moment, no mechanism has been proposed to ensure that the terms of any ceasefire would hold.
Although 15 Western countries have temporarily offered peacekeeping troops, they would only come in the event of a last peace agreement, not a cease-fire.
Not that Russia would allow this arrangement anyway.
Given all these “nuances”, Putin seemed skeptical about how a cease-fire could benefit Russia, especially when his troops were on the front. All his prospects was “based on the way in which the situation on the field develops”.
Putin met Trump’s envoys in Moscow Thursday evening, including Steve Witkoff.
Whatever happens in these discussions, Putin knows that in the end, her most important conversation will be with the president.
“I think we have to talk to our American colleagues … maybe have a phone call with President Trump and chat with him,” he said.
But Putin gave her stand before these conversations, with a message that the road to a cease-fire was strewn with conditions that would be almost impossible to meet.
