Bogdan Frolov11:20, 27.04.25

Putin has a special skill in negotiating, which he learned while training in the KGB.

US President Donald Trump is slowly learning that reaching out to Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin is not as easy as he may have thought, but he is just the latest in a string of American leaders who have failed to engage Russia, CNN reports .

The White House administration’s efforts to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine have largely stalled, despite intense diplomatic activity. Trump has had at least two lengthy phone calls with Putin since returning to office and has repeatedly sent his envoy, Steve Witkoff, to meet face-to-face with the Russian leader in Moscow, but neither has led to a deal.

Moreover, Witkoff not only returned with nothing, but also repeated several key theses of the Kremlin, the media emphasizes. “I would say that the negotiations are going very well – from Putin’s point of view. He has no intention of ending the war, but he wants – and gets – the restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Russia,” Angela Stent, a foreign policy expert and former senior officer for Russia and Eurasia at the US National Intelligence Council, said in an interview with CNN.

John Luff, director of foreign policy at the Center for New Eurasian Strategies, said Putin is playing a waiting game because he believes time is on his side. The Kremlin leader believes that in the weeks and months ahead he will be able to put Ukraine at a greater disadvantage by convincing Kyiv and its European allies, with Washington’s support, that there is no alternative to a peaceful settlement on Russian terms.

Journalists emphasize that slowing down the process, fussing over every detail, or refusing without outright refusal is a classic Russian tactic that Putin and his chief negotiators have resorted to before, for example, during the ceasefire talks in Syria.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has perceived the world in a similar way to Putin – as an arena of rivalry between great powers to which small countries must submit, Stent believes.

Putin and his approach to negotiations

Laff, however, emphasizes that Putin’s training in the KGB has greatly influenced his approach to negotiations. “He is trained in the art of manipulating interlocutors. He is known to prepare for negotiations carefully and has an excellent command of the details,” the expert said. As a result, the dictator can react quickly on the fly, as well as charm and intimidate at the same time.

The article says that Putin has many tricks in his diplomatic arsenal. He likes to be late to meetings, sometimes by several hours, to make his opponent nervous. He often creates chaotic situations to gain more options for action, and he can change his mind when it suits him, which further complicates negotiations.

Moscow may be deliberately dragging out the process in the hope that Trump will lose patience and abandon his goal of ending the war. Signs of this are already emerging.

“The Trump administration is eager to make a deal, but it is not willing to pay a high price for it – no US security guarantees, no US troops on the ground, nor is it willing to dramatically increase aid to Ukraine to force Russia to make concessions,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities.

She added that for Trump it is more important to get the US out of the Ukrainian conflict and stabilize relations with Russia than to achieve peace. And Putin understands this. Sam Green, director of the Center for Democratic Resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), notes that every US administration has come to power with the idea of ​​”resetting” relations with Russia. And they have all been wrong, he says.

Relations between the US and Russia

The key problem, experts say, is that the US and Russia simply do not understand each other – neither now nor in the past. At the same time, not all representatives of the American government have managed to “realize the depth of Russia’s transformation.”

“Not just toward authoritarianism, but toward a form of authoritarianism that perceives the very existence of a Western power as a serious threat to Russian interests,” Green added.

But Thomas Graham, a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former senior director for Russia at the US National Security Council (2004-2007), noted that the key mistake of American presidents after the collapse of the USSR was their belief in the possibility of creating a broad strategic partnership with Russia. Because this was not a realistic prospect given Russia’s interests, history, and traditions.

Other news about US relations with Russia

UNIAN previously reported that the Kremlin is preparing “big deals” with the United States . The companies have been tasked with finding something that might interest US President Donald Trump. The efforts are being coordinated by Maxim Oreshkin, deputy head of the administration of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and Kirill Dmitriev, special representative of the Kremlin leader.

In addition, Bloomberg explained all the nuances related to the question of what will happen if Trump lifts sanctions against Russia . However, it is reported that Trump does not have complete freedom of action.

(c)UNIAN 2025