View from London: “A single call can change the course of history”

U.S. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018.
Photo: BPA

After Donald Trump set up direct peace talks with Moscow, bypassing Kyiv and European allies, the Russian president Vladimir Putin is now closer than ever to getting what he wanted, ‘The Financial Times’ notes.

Putin’s main ambition is to establish a new security architecture that gives Russia a sphere of influence in Europe — much as the Yalta conference did for the Soviet Union at the end of the Second World War.

Now, the US may be open to letting him have it. Defence secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO and reclaim its territory from Russia. Putin and Trump discussed “bilateral economic co-operation”, suggesting the US was prepared to roll back its sanctions against Moscow.

And Trump appears intent on rolling back the US’s commitment to NATO and leaving to European countries the job.

In Moscow, there was palpable joy following Wednesday’s call between Trump and Putin. The rouble strengthened 5 per cent against the dollar and Moscow’s main exchange index rose 2.8 per cent to its highest level in nine months.

“A single call can change the course of history — today, the leaders of the US and Russia have possibly opened a door to a future shaped by co-operation, not confrontation,” said Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian Sovereign Wealth Fund chief involved in back-channel talks with the US over prisoner exchanges.

The call marked a dramatic about-face from US policy under Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, who pledged to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” while working with other western countries to isolate Russia. Now, the US has said victory on Ukraine’s terms is not “realistic” — a shift that Moscow hailed as a return to reason.

The Kremlin said Russia's leader would welcome Trump to Moscow for the May 9 festivities. The two leaders have floated Saudi Arabia as a potential venue for their next meeting.

“Russia is serious about the need to solve the Ukraine issue,” said Dmitry Trenin, a research professor at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics. “It is not suing for peace. It knows that the only guarantees it can rely on are those it can provide itself. A deal that falls short of Russia’s vital security requirements would only guarantee that there will be another war soon. Russia will not permit that.”

He added: “The fighting will not stop with the start of the talks; and if there is no deal, it will go on.”

For now, Kyiv and its European allies are looking on, aghast, from the outside, fearful the US will strike an unfavourable deal with Putin to end the war — and stick them with the bill.

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