Katerina Schwartz14:14, 18.03.25

There are signs that Putin cares more about achieving his goals in Ukraine than about a possible short-term improvement in relations with Washington, the publication noted.

US President Donald Trump’s planned phone call to Russian leader Vladimir Putin on March 18 to discuss ending the war in Ukraine will test their “excellent relationship”, The Times reports .

It is noted that this may be Trump’s most important conversation with a foreign leader since he returned to the White House in January.

“It seems that something is about to happen,” the publication noted.

Putin’s first prime minister, Mikhail Kasyanov, who has been in opposition to him for nearly 20 years and lives in exile in Europe, suggested that the Russian dictator would stick to his demands in his talks with Trump. Putin’s goal, he said, was to buy time for Russia’s slowly advancing army and convince Trump that the easiest way to end the conflict was to put pressure on Ukraine, not Russia.

“Putin is not ready for any compromises in the next three to four months. He will drag out time by saying pleasant things to Trump,” Kasyanov said.

In his opinion, the growing economic problems in Russia caused by Western sanctions will force Putin to look for an exit strategy from the war by the end of the year:

“Then he will be ready for some concessions. But Ukraine must survive until the end of the year. Therefore, assistance to Ukraine is extremely important now.”

The Kremlin said Putin’s phone call with Trump would be an opportunity to “revitalise” US-Russia relations, The Times reports. However, there are signs that Putin is more concerned with achieving his goals in Ukraine than with a possible short-term improvement in relations with Washington. He has said Ukraine must surrender four regions in the east and south, as well as Crimea, before there can be any peace. Moscow also wants “cast-iron” guarantees that Ukraine will not be offered NATO membership in the future.

Sergei Radchenko, an expert on Russian foreign policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, suggested that Putin would likely use the talks with Trump to “flatter” him and “seduce him with visions of ‘great’ Russian-American relations and economic ‘deals.'”

He also believes Putin will likely try to get the US to recognise Russia’s claims to occupied Ukrainian territory, and he would like to “sabotage” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s “coalition of the willing” to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine.

Kirill Martynov, editor of the Russian opposition news site Novaya Gazeta Evropa, suggested that Trump has two options:

“Either agree to some of Putin’s conditions and do something more pleasant [in US-Russia relations], or return to the Biden administration’s strategy, which he is unlikely to want to do.”

(C)UNIAN 2025