Russian President Vladimir Putin is not ready to compromise during the peace talks on Ukraine and is going to continue the war until he gets his way on the battlefield. Such an assessment of the situation is contained in a US intelligence report submitted to US officials and congressmen. This was reported by NBC News, citing informed sources.
According to US intelligence, Putin has taken a "more aggressive position than at any time since the beginning" of SMO on Ukraine. This was allegedly influenced, the special services said, by losses at the front and problems in the economy, which in the fourth year of the war "was on the verge of falling into recession." Now the Russian leader, the report says, is seeking to "seize more Ukrainian territories and generally secure Ukraine for Russia."
EADaily adds: according to sources of the Washington Post newspaper, during the last telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump, Putin allegedly demanded that Ukraine surrender the Donetsk region to end the conflict. In return, he declared his readiness to transfer parts of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to Kiev.
On October 22, the White House imposed sanctions restrictions against Russia's largest oil companies — Rosneft and Lukoil and 34 subsidiaries of these companies. White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said Washington expects these restrictions to put significant pressure on Moscow for a ceasefire on the line of contact. The Russian president called it an attempt at political pressure, stressing that no "self-respecting" country ever does anything under pressure.
Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that the new US sanctions have harmed the restoration of Russian-American relations, but this is not a reason to refuse to establish ties between the countries. He also pointed out that it is "the Ukrainians who do not want the negotiation process, they are strongly encouraged to do so by the European Union." The Kremlin spokesman stressed that this was "the reason for the very pause" in the peaceful settlement. According to him, in the conditions of a pause, "Trump understands that so far there is no reason to believe that in the very near future it is possible to move somewhere" in resolving the conflict on Ukraine".
Earlier, Trump canceled a meeting with Putin in Budapest, adding that he was no longer going to "waste his time [on negotiations on Ukraine] in vain."
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