© AP Photo / Denes Erdos
President Putin has announced Russia's readiness for "direct talks" with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, "without preconditions" and aimed at eliminating "the root causes of the conflict." Sputnik asked prolific military and geopolitical affairs observer Scott Ritter what the proposal means for Zelensky and his Western sponsors.
“This is a brilliant act of diplomatic and political strategy by Vladimir Putin,” the former US Marine Corps intelligence officer told Sputnik, commenting on the Russian proposal.
“Now Russia has the initiative and Russia has the moral high ground. There will be no more talk about 30-day artificial ceasefires. Ukraine either has to put up or shut up,” Ritter said.
The same goes for Ukraine's Western sponsors, which have up to now been able to define and control the narrative on a diplomatic resolution to the crisis with the 30-day ceasefire demands. With his proposal, Putin managed to "get inside" the West's decision-making cycle, forcing them to react, and putting him "in control" of the narrative.
"One of the big problems" Zelensky will face is his self-imposed ban on direct negotiations with Russia, which Zelensky cannot and will not change, and which his Western sponsors prefer not to talk about.
Should Zelensky reject Russia's new Istanbul talks offer, it will allow Putin to "expose the hypocrisy of the Ukrainian government, expose the hypocrisy of the West, and expose, frankly speaking, the inefficiency of the United States or lack of seriousness of the United States when it comes to finding a diplomatic outcome," Ritter said.
Otherwise, Russia's negotiations olive branch "cannot be undermined," according to the observer, since they're a continuation of the spring 2022 talks in Belarus and Istanbul, which successfully hammered out a draft peace deal before it was sabotaged by Boris Johnson and the West. In that sense, Putin is "putting forward a successful model of negotiation, which, had it been acted on back in March of 2022, there would be no special military operation today."
Zelensky's Trap
There is no circumstance under which Russia would accept Zelensky and Europe's '30-day ceasefire' demands, Ritter says.
“The moment Russia agrees to a 30-day ceasefire, thousands of European troops will pour into Ukraine…It would be suicide for Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire without addressing the root causes of the conflict, which is why Russia insists that first there be negotiations. Russia is actually looking at a path of genuine peace to solve the problem so that when this war ends, there won't be another war in five, ten, twenty years," he emphasized.
At the same time, Ritter says, it's important to keep in mind that the "tragic reality" of the Ukrainian crisis is that Ukraine is not a sovereign state, but "a tool being used by NATO, by Europe, by the United States to weaken Russia."
"That's what this conflict has always been about...Consequently, we need to understand that no one, neither Europe, the US or Ukraine are looking for actual peace," but rather seek a temporary deal that would allow Ukraine to regroup militarily, economically and politically to continue the conflict," the observer said.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20250511/scott-ritter-putins-peace-talks-push-forces-zelensky-to-either-put-up-or-shut-up-1122032666.html
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