Putin Throws Cold Water on Any Talk of a Quick Peace Deal – RedState
Even as presidential envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to make another trip to the Kremlin to present the revised 18-point peace plan for Ukraine and Russia (see New Development: Ukraine Adopts Key Elements of Trump’s Peace Plan – RedState), Russian President Vladimir Putin has signaled that no deal is imminent. Putin used the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) post-summit press conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Thursday to make clear that no agreement of any kind would be signed with Ukraine. If you are not familiar with the CSTO, it is an imaginary organization invented by Russia to pretend that it was running an equivalent of NATO after the implosion of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact. Its members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. Azerbaijan left the organization after repeatedly invading Armenian territory.
For this article, I rely on the official translation from the Russian president’s website.
Putin assured the few sycophantic media that Steve Witkoff was an American patriot. “He is an American citizen and he defends the position of his president and his country,” Puting said. He followed up with another attestation of Witkoff’s loyalty to the United States: “To reiterate, Mr. Witkoff defends his position, the position of the United States, and the interests of the United States as he sees them and as those who delegate him to negotiate with Russia see them. »
There’s nothing like a deceitful psychopath vouching for your loyalty to make everyone feel safe.
Putin was optimistic about the war, even as he invented imaginary cities to conquer.
The madness has crept in unnoticed! Putin boasted about the “successes” of the occupying forces in a city that does not exist.
When there are no victories, we can always invent them. Putin took credit for the “successes” of Russian troops in the Ukrainian city of Komsomolsk — a place that does not… pic.twitter.com/cfVXSQurou
– NEXT (@nexta_tv) November 27, 2025
He poo-pooed a European condition that Russia would promise (lol) not to attack Europe. “There are undoubtedly areas where we need to sit down and engage in serious discussions on specific points, and all these issues must be formulated in appropriate diplomatic language,” Putin said. “Because, generally speaking, one thing is to say that Russia has no intention of attacking Europe. To us, that seems ridiculous, doesn’t it? We never had such intentions. But if they want it made official, let’s do it, no problem.”
Ridiculous, indeed.
— streiff (@streiffredstate) November 27, 2025
He made an ambiguous statement regarding the obligation for Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the positions they are currently defending.
When Ukrainian troops leave the territories they occupy, hostilities will cease. If they don’t leave, we will do it militarily. That’s it.
Putin sets out the conditions under which Russia is ready to end the war
According to Putin, the only way to stop the war is for Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the territories they currently hold. pic.twitter.com/Q7E8DL3dko
– Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) November 27, 2025
I say it is ambiguous because it was not done in the context of Donbass, but rather in the context of the entire front. As I pointed out last week, seeing Trump’s new Ukraine peace plan promises Russia what it could not gain in 44 months of brutal war – RedState, in October 2022, Putin announced that Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson were part of Russia in perpetuity and not subject to negotiations; see Putin’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory marks the start of a war with no discernible end – RedState. No mention of this annexation appears in the peace agreement. Unless repudiated, it will serve as the basis for another invasion in a year or two. I view this statement as an omen that Putin will up the ante now that President Trump appears to see success within his reach.
At the very end of the press conference, Putin made another demand:
Valentin Alfimov, Komsomolskaya Pravda:
You have already partially touched on this topic, but I would like to clarify the legal aspect regarding Crimea and Donbass. In President Trump’s plan it says that they recognize these territories as ours de facto but not de jure. How is this possible? As a lawyer, how do you view this distinction? How can something be recognized de facto but not de jure?
Vladimir Putin: This is precisely one of the issues that must be addressed in our negotiations with the American side.
Thank you for drawing attention to this point. You’re right, that’s one of the key points.
This poses a huge problem for Europe and hopefully the United States. It’s one thing to end the war along the line of contact. It is quite another thing to legally recognize the conquered area as part of Russia. Such recognition would amount to a clear rejection of the United Nations Charter, something the Senate would have to decide on, and an end to the post-World War II way of doing business.
The main argument put forward by Putin is that Russia will not sign any agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Poutine :
Russia wants to reach an agreement with Ukraine, but this is currently legally impossible. pic.twitter.com/l00mz3rPsS
– Clash Report (@clashreport) November 27, 2025
You know, signing documents with Ukrainian leaders is useless. I have mentioned it several times.
I believe that Ukrainian leaders made a fundamental and strategic mistake by giving in to fear and choosing not to hold presidential elections, as a result of which the president lost his legitimacy. Russia is also at war with Ukraine, but we have held elections, presidential elections and, most recently, elections to municipal and regional bodies. We did all this, while they, for whatever reason, did not. As soon as a peace agreement is signed, hostilities will cease and martial law must be immediately lifted. Once martial law is lifted, elections must be announced immediately.
He went on to say:
Of course, we want to reach an agreement with Ukraine, but this is currently practically impossible, if not legally impossible. Whoever on their side can or wants to speak, let them do so. What we need is for our decisions to be recognized internationally by major global players. That’s all we need.
This would be laughable if it wasn’t so obscene. Ukraine was supposed to hold elections in 2024. Ukraine’s constitution prohibits elections during martial law, in effect since February 2022. With nearly 20% of Ukraine’s territory under Russian occupation, it would be impossible to verify residency and organize voting for the vast Ukrainian diaspora created by the war. Putin’s elections were blatantly fraudulent and involved the murder of potential opponents.
Specifically, it appears that Putin’s strategy is to reach a deal with Trump and have Trump force Ukraine into it; otherwise, no peace agreement will be possible if Putin does not deal with Zelensky and Zelensky remains in power.
In expressing his objections to Zelensky, Putin also set a timetable for new elections. Something that seems entirely inappropriate for peace negotiations and more akin to surrender terms.
Even if a deal is signed, it will only last as long as Putin decides…and that won’t last long. As one of my favorite observers of Russian politics points out, if we view Putin as a neo-tsar of Russia, not a successor to Gorbachev, then any treaty limits his power and freedom of action, and he must repudiate it.
In this regard, the Russian state has not changed much since 1654. As Putin’s deputy Kiriyenko said in 2017, “the Russian state is not based on treaties.” The treaty constitutes a restriction on the power of the tsar, a condition which he undertakes to respect. It is a dishonor and he breaks the treaty at the first opportunity pic.twitter.com/x9h7oed2ZA
– Kamil Galeev (@kamilkazani) April 18, 2022
And so this ridiculous “peace process” continues. Peace is simply not possible in the context of an independent Ukraine, a fact Putin will never acknowledge, as he considers Ukrainian independence as illegitimate as Zelensky’s presidency. Putin is dragging out negotiations and gradually increasing his demands because he believes, rightly or wrongly, that Trump will continue to play his game; see Putin Uses Muhammad Ali Tactics Against Trump’s Ukraine Peace Efforts – RedState.
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