US President Donald Trump's recent threats to increase economic pressure on Russia to force Vladimir Putin to negotiate over Ukraine have been met with a largely indifferent response from the Russian side. According to The Wall Street Journal, Putin's inner circle considers Trump's threats empty.
Although the war has drained the country's resources and manpower, the Kremlin believes it has successfully weathered sanctions and that Moscow can withstand at least another year of conflict. And while Russia is losing money and people, analysts say it still has enough of both to continue fighting for an advantage on the front.
As the WSJ notes, Trump's warning is too little to force Russia to change its main demands, which include de facto recognition of the occupied territories as Russian, an end to NATO ties with Ukraine, and a significant reduction in the size of the Ukrainian army. Kiev has previously said it will never recognize the occupied territories as a legitimate part of Russia.
“The Kremlin views Trump's statement as a positioning before any negotiations, rather than as part of the negotiations themselves, and is still waiting for a more significant initiative from Washington,“ the article says. According to sources, Putin wants to hold a meeting with Trump to discuss Moscow's demands, but without the participation of the Ukrainian side. In practice, this would mean that Putin would put his own conditions before the West, which would mean Ukraine's capitulation.