Putin’s Power Play: What the Kremlin Hopes to Gain from Talks with Trump

Russia is showing no genuine willingness to engage in meaningful peace talks, as highlighted by recent statements from Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. At the same time, the Kremlin continues to drag out the process, seeking to exploit the personal ambitions of US President Donald Trump.

This opinion was voiced by diplomat and presenter Dmytro Chekalkyn during a broadcast on the Pryamyi TV channel.

“There’s no reason to take these negotiations seriously at this stage, as the conditions made public just three weeks ago once again demanded that NATO halt its eastward expansion. What does Ukraine have to do with that if they’re calling for a return to NATO’s 1997 borders? Can Ukraine somehow influence the Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Hungary, or Poland to leave the alliance? It’s a wholly destructive position,” Chekalkyn said.

In his view, the Kremlin is deliberately stalling negotiations while trying not to offend US President Donald Trump — “so as not to hurt his ego, as he sees himself as a highly successful and skilled negotiator.”

“He boasts about his deal-making talents and, after the Bible, considers The Art of the Deal the most important. In other words, they didn’t want to cast a shadow over ‘His Majesty’. Yet Putin’s remarks were entirely contradictory — he praised Trump’s mediation efforts but also implied they would amount to nothing,” the diplomat added.

“At one point, Trump even launched a vodka brand, despite repeatedly claiming he doesn’t drink — largely due to his older brother’s struggle with alcoholism. Although the vodka was promoted globally, the only country where it is still sold today is Israel. It seems they’re reluctant to reject Trump, as Netanyahu sees him as playing an important role,” Chekalkin recalled.

He also expressed hope that Trump is beginning to change his stance on Russia. “I’d like to believe that. We’re crossing all fingers and toes for this shift to happen,” the diplomat said.

Recall that after the NATO summit in The Hague, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin lashed out at the Alliance and once again stated that Moscow had been deceived by breaking its promise not to expand NATO to the East. He also assured that Russia wants to end the war in Ukraine with “the desired result,” so Russian defense spending, which currently amounts to 13.5 trillion rubles, is aimed precisely at this. At the same time, Putin said that the West is trying to bury Russia’s economy, but believes that “they will soon die, and they are burying us.”

As reported by “Pryamiy”, on June 20, Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin made a series of cynical statements regarding the course of the war with Ukraine. He made it clear that he planned to seize all of Ukraine because he considers it “ours”, that is, “Russian”. Putin also cynically said that the Russian Federation has an “old rule: wherever a Russian soldier steps, it is ours”.

At the same time, according to political scientist Vadym Denysenko, with his threats to NATO, Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin once again demonstrated that he is not going to stop the war against Ukraine, but we should not talk about decades, but about the prospects of the coming years, because the Russian economy can no longer withstand such a load.

Meanwhile, the US President’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, rejected Russia’s accusations that Washington and Kyiv are allegedly delaying peace talks. He was responding to a statement by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said that the pace of progress in the Ukraine talks depends on the US and Ukraine. Kellogg called Pskov’s comments “Orwellian” and stressed that the Russian accusations are baseless.

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