Published December 24, 2023
In a fresh weekend report The New York Times says that President Vladimir Putin is ready to negotiate an end to the nearly two year-long ‘special operation’ in Ukraine, at a moment most of the territory which forms the four ‘annexed’ oblasts remains firmly under Russian military control.
However, to some degree, Putin has consistently held open the chance to negotiate… it’s just that “negotiate” in the Kremlin context would be on the basis of Crimea and the Donbass being fully recognized as Russian Federation territory. Until recently, the West considered this an impossibility, but US and European officials have more recently quietly admitted Moscow has more or less ‘won’. The NY Times quotes Putin in the following:
Buoyed by Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive and flagging Western support, Mr. Putin says that Russia’s war goals have not changed. Addressing his generals on Tuesday, he boasted that Ukraine was so beleaguered that Russia’s invading troops were doing “what we want.”
“We won’t give up what’s ours,” he pledged, adding dismissively, “If they want to negotiate, let them negotiate.” But in a recent push of back-channel diplomacy, Mr. Putin has been sending a different message: He is ready to make a deal.
The report cites Russian diplomatic sources who say Putin has for the first time been open to ceasefire which would include a freezing of all frontline fighting. American officials say the same, per the report: “In fact, Mr. Putin also sent out feelers for a cease-fire deal a year earlier, in the fall of 2022, according to American officials.”
“That quiet overture, not previously reported, came after Ukraine routed Russia’s army in the country’s northeast. Mr. Putin indicated that he was satisfied with Russia’s captured territory and ready for an armistice, they said.”
Very obviously, Ukraine’s leadership and society has been fracturing under the strain of the invasion and immense death toll, with Kiev officials recently admitting monumental problems with manpower and ammo supply.
But the reality is that Russian society is likely facing deep fractures and uncertainty too, though it’s far less evident. Countless mothers, fathers, and families are grieving and dealing with the loss of loved ones killed in action. Conservative estimates have said at least 50,000 Russian troops have died in the war (and that is based just on data as of mid-summer). US officials have claimed a figure in the hundreds of thousands, but there are reasons to be doubtful of this.
Angry families of fallen soldiers have increasingly formed the locus of a small but increasingly visible Russian anti-war movement, suggesting broader quiet societal angst concerning the direction of the war in Ukraine. They don’t want Ukraine to be Russia’s “endless war”. This discontent threatens to become much more out in the open, seen for example in the following:
Former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova was disqualified on Saturday from running against President Vladimir Putin in an election next March because of alleged flaws in her application to register as a candidate.
Video from a meeting of the central electoral commission showed members voting unanimously to reject the candidacy of Duntsova, who had wanted to run on a platform to end the war in Ukraine and release political prisoners.
Her disqualification was seized on by Putin’s critics as proof that no one with genuine opposition views will be allowed to stand against him in the first presidential election since the start of the 22-month war. They see it as a fake process with only one possible outcome.
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SOURCE: www.zerohedge.com
RELATED: NYT: Putin Signals Possible End to Ukraine Warc
In this pool photograph distributed by Russia’s state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting via a video link at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 22, 2023. (Photo by Mikhail KLIMENTYEV / POOL / AFP)
Published December 23, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled that a deal could be made to end the war in Ukraine if terms are met, according to two former senior Russian officials close to the Kremlin and American and international officials who have received the message, reports The New York Times.
Addressing his generals on Tuesday, Putin said in regards to Russia’s gains in eastern Ukraine, “We won’t give up what’s ours. If they want to negotiate, let them negotiate.”
But privately Putin has been sending a different message: He is ready to make a deal.
The Times goes on to add that “Putin also sent out feelers for a cease-fire deal a year earlier, in the fall of 2022, according to American officials.”
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told the Times that “сonceptually, these theses you presented, they are incorrect.”
Asked whether he was ready for a cease-fire at the current battle lines, he pointed to Putin’s recent comments
“Putin is, indeed, ready for talks, and he has said so,” Peskov said. “Russia continues to be ready, but exclusively for the achievement of its own goals.”
President Joe Biden has pleaded with Republicans for a fresh infusion of military aid for Ukraine, warning that a victory for Russia over Ukraine would leave Moscow in position to attack NATO allies and could draw U.S. troops into a war.
But Senate Republicans last week blocked Democratic-backed legislation that would have provided billions of dollars in new security assistance for Ukraine and Israel, among other international concerns, saying they wanted to press their point about the importance of tighter border policy.
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SOURCE: www.newsmax.com
RELATED: Putin Suffered ‘Big Strategic Defeat’ in Ukraine War: NATO Leader
Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg (L) and President Volodymyr Zelenskyi (R). The NATO leader said on Friday that Russia has suffered a strategic defeat against Ukraine, as the country is closer to NATO than it ever has been.
Published December 23, 2023
NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has declared that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine resulted in a strategic defeat for President Vladimir Putin, asserting that Russia “has lost Ukraine forever.”
Stoltenberg’s statement came on the six hundred and sixty sixth day of battle, with the NATO leader saying that Russia failed to achieve its war aims, highlighting the high cost of its military efforts since the initial full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 22, 2022. However, Ukrainian officials, including intelligence representative Vadym Skibitsky, urge caution, suggesting that despite setbacks, Putin has not abandoned his objectives.
However, cautionary voices arise from Ukraine, challenging the finality of Stoltenberg’s declaration. Skibitsky, a representative from Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, suggests that Putin’s failure to achieve his immediate goals does not equate to a relinquishment of his broader ambitions, saying that Putin will simply push the deadline for when he expects to achieve those goals, which indicates an ongoing threat from the Kremlin, according to Kyiv Post.
Skibitsky also said that the Russian government is concerned over a potential regime change in Moscow and the possible disintegration of the Russian Federation itself, which is currently fueling Russia’s current foreign policy approach. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) supports the intelligence representative’s perspective, noting that Russia’s current failures in Ukraine are not definitive and that Moscow continues to pursue its maximalist goals.
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SOURCE: www.newsweek.com
