WSJ: Putin Has Fallen Into His Own Trap
- 18.05.2025, 17:58
The Kremlin suffered a diplomatic defeat in Istanbul.
The Russian dictator does not want to end the war, and is therefore against a ceasefire. However, in order to appear constructive in the eyes of his favored Donald Trump, Putin initiated direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul.
Vladimir Zelensky accepted Putin's challenge and invited him to a face-to-face meeting in Istanbul. However, the Russian dictator ignored this "invitation". He sent the same low-level delegation to the Turkish city as he did in 2022. By doing so, the Kremlin chief showed that he is not ready for a peace deal, writes WSJ.
How Putin suffered a diplomatic defeat in Istanbul
Putin's brutal tactics risk angering Trump, who has recently shown frustration over the Russian leader's stubbornness and is facing pressure in the US to strengthen sanctions against the aggressor country. European leaders, for their part, saw a chance to finally persuade Trump to be more forceful in his demands on Putin.
"Putin has backed himself into a corner by not showing up," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said after the Kremlin chief refused to arrive in Istanbul for a meeting with Zelensky.
The European initiative, which diplomats said was intended to show Trump that Putin was ignoring his mediation, was a major victory for Zelensky and his allies. They have long fought Trump's criticism of Europe's "passivity" in dealing with Europe's biggest land war since World War II.
"It allowed Europe to finally be a party to peace," said Ivan Krastev, a scholar at the Institute for Humanities in Vienna who has met Putin on several occasions.
Now, the expert said, Putin will have to explain to Trump why he is abandoning his peace initiative, despite Zelensky's agreement, as well as the support of leaders from countries such as Turkey and Brazil.
Putin's refusal to personally participate in the Istanbul talks and delegating only junior representatives has effectively ruled out the possibility of serious negotiations or ceasefire commitments, said Sinan Ulgen, director of the Istanbul-based think tank EDAM.
Zelensky took full advantage of the situation, saying before the talks: "Trump needs to realize that Putin is actually lying."
In the meantime, the EU is preparing new sanctions against Moscow, including a formal ban on the launch of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline. It was completed at the end of 2021, but it never got off the ground due to Russia's attack on Ukraine. Part of the pipe was blown up in 2022 by Ukrainian special forces and civilian divers.
Factually, Europe's latest diplomatic moves were also intended to increase pressure on the United States to join tougher sanctions, says John Herbst, a former U.S. diplomat and now a director at the Atlantic Council in Washington.
The question remains, however, whether Trump is willing to use his influence to get Putin to move toward peace - especially on shutting down Russia's economic artery: its energy exports.
"For that to happen, Trump has to clearly realize that there is no will for peace on Moscow's part. I'm not sure Trump has realized that yet," Ulgen concluded.