The illegitimate president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, is currently doing everything he can to get favorable decisions for Russia from European leaders until Donald Trump returns to the White House. American analysts came to this conclusion.
Points of attention
- Putin is actively trying to influence the decisions of European leaders in favor of Russia.
- His strategy is to reduce international isolation, conduct negotiations on favorable terms and push Ukraine to premature peace talks.
- Volodymyr Zelenskyi has already reacted to Putin's actions.
Why does Putin have talks with Scholz?
As mentioned earlier, on November 15, the Russian dictator unexpectedly held telephone talks with the German leader Olaf Scholz.
During them, he traditionally repeated several informational narratives of the Kremlin, aimed at influencing the German government and other Western countries in order to push Ukraine to premature "peace talks".
The ISW team draws attention to the fact that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky called the Scholz-Putin call "Pandora's box".
According to the head of state, this call helps the dictator to achieve his key goals: to reduce his isolation in the international community and to conduct negotiations on the terms desired by Russia, "which will not lead to anything."
The Kremlin is stepping up a reflexive pressure campaign aimed at swaying Western decision-making in Russia's favor ahead of, or in lieu of, possible future talks to settle the war.
Putin is trying to get concessions from Europe
As you know, official Moscow has confirmed its reluctance to compromise on the terms of any possible future negotiations.
The Kremlin has never hidden that the complete capitulation of Ukraine is Putin's goal, which remains unchanged.
Vladimir Putin wants to take advantage of the uncertainty about Donald Trump's future policy towards Ukraine by intensifying his campaign of reflexive pressure against Ukraine's European allies."
High-ranking Russian officials, including Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu and Defense Minister Andriy Belousov, in particular, used phone calls with Western political and military officials to promote Kremlin information narratives.
