Thomas Graham believes that Trump will be greatly disappointed if he does not realize that the problem is bigger than just the war in Ukraine.
A simple ceasefire in Ukraine does not really interest the Kremlin dictator. His goals are much larger and concern, first of all, weakening NATO and moving the alliance's forces as far away from the borders of the Russian Federation as possible.
This opinion was expressed by Thomas Graham, Distinguished Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), during the discussion “Securing Ukraine's Future – What the United States Should Do?”
Graham, who was Special Assistant to US President George W. Bush and Senior Director for Russian Affairs in the National Security Council in 2004-2007, believes that Putin's actions make this clear.
“He [Putin – ed.] wants to discuss broader issues of European security, a return to the December 2021 ultimatum, in which the Kremlin called for the defeat of NATO: abandoning further expansion Alliance; withdrawal of strike weapons from Eastern Europe that can hit targets in Russia; and withdrawal of all NATO infrastructure to the 1997 “borders”. That's what he wants to talk about,” the expert noted.
Graham emphasized that Trump will be very disappointed if he does not realize that the problem is bigger than just the war in Ukraine.
“Putin wants broader negotiations, but President Trump cannot agree to any of these things and make it look like a success,” the expert concluded.
Recall that Putin wants to impose negotiations on Trump without Ukraine and force him to agree to Russia's demands. The dictator has so far avoided a personal meeting with the US president.
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