Putin And Trump: Conflict Looks Inevitable
- Vitaly Portnikov, Vilni-media
- 26.12.2025, 10:55
It remains to be seen how the US president will react to the Kremlin's perfidy.
Putin's appearance with hours-long answers to questions from journalists and "ordinary Russians" during the "direct line" again demonstrated that the Russian president continues to live the war and is not going to end it.
Even on this direct line, Russians asked Putin why all the time their television talks about Ukraine and not about Russia. And Putin agreed that it had to be wrapped up. But it's just not clear whether it's war or propaganda.
But during this meeting with journalists, I was interested in another question: what are the United States counting on when they hope to "bring" the Russian president to some kind of peace agreement? After all, neither Putin's statements nor the comments of other Russian officials have so far even hinted at a willingness to end the war. Yes, there has been talk of surrender. Europe has been threatened with war. But this is not peace. Even when it came to the Ukrainian elections - and Putin keeps talking about the "illegitimacy" of the Ukrainian president - the Russian president promised to think about stopping shelling of Ukraine for one day - election day. That is, as we can see, Putin is not interested in any real elections in the neighboring country. But he is interested in capitulation and "liberation of Russian lands". And he doesn't hide it.
Yes, I can imagine that in informal communication with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner Putin doesn't talk in slogans. As a skilled chekist and manipulator, he can talk to his American interlocutors about what they wish to hear. Now we already know that Putin himself sought contacts with Witkoff and even involved Saudi Prince Mohammed in mediation. Why Witkoff? Perhaps precisely because the Russian president understood how and what to talk about with this longtime comrade of Donald Trump and how to get in touch with Trump himself not with the help of yet another official, but precisely with the help of a confidant?
So, what can Putin talk about for hours with his American guests? About war? Of course not. About the economy. Putin is able to paint a convincing picture of economic cooperation in front of Witkoff and Kushner. After the war. But this way the war starts to look like only unpleasant circumstances preventing this cooperation from proceeding. And the pressure begins not on Russia, but on Ukraine, which with its "stubbornness" prevents the transition to exciting deals. And if there were no such "stubbornness" - there would be no problems.
This is a good calculation, but if you look at the reality: what has Putin achieved? Has he managed to stop the sanctions against his main "wallets" - Lukoil and Rosneft? No, he has not. Sanctions have been imposed and are already in place, forcing even countries like China and India to limit their purchases and refining of Russian oil.
Did Putin succeed in preventing the release of European money for Ukraine. Yes, he prevented the final confiscation of Russian assets in European accounts - and Donald Trump himself was apparently interested in this, somehow convinced that confiscating Russian assets would interfere with his peace plan. But the Europeans decided to release their money, dashing Moscow's hopes that the Ukrainian economy would collapse next year.
The day that will demonstrate Putin's unwillingness to agree to peace is sure to come, no matter how much the Russian president procrastinates. Yes, both he and Trump desire the emergence of a full-fledged peace agreement. But except that Trump wants it to appear as soon as possible, while Putin is willing to stall until, well, say, January 2029, until Trump's last day in the Oval Office.
So conflict looks inevitable. It remains to be seen how Trump himself will react to the collapse of his illusions and Putin's perfidy.
Vitaly Portnikov, Vilni-media