President Trump promises “major statement” on Russia : NPR

Scott Detrow, host:

President Trump says he will make a quote, “major declaration” tomorrow on Russia. The promised announcement comes in the midst of the President’s growing frustration towards Russia on the efforts supported by the United States to negotiate the end of the war in Ukraine. This morning, republican senator Lindsey Graham, an ally of Trump, spoke to CBS News. He was back from a recent trip to Ukraine.

(Soundbit of the television show, “CBS News: Face The Nation”)

Lindsey Graham: A turning point concerning the invasion of Ukraine Russia arrives. For months, President Trump tried to attract Putin to the peace table. He has put prices against countries that allow fentanyl to come to our country, another bad behavior. He left the door open concerning Russia. This door is about to close.

Detrow: To discuss what we could expect and how all this is seen in Russia, we are now joined by Charles Maynes of NPR of Moscow. Hey, Charles.

Charles Maynes, byline: Hi.

Detow: So this major announcement seems intriguing. Of course, the president also has long history to change his mind or not follow the announcements promised to come. However, an indication what Trump could say?

Maynes: Well, to a certain extent, yes – in an interview with NBC last week, Trump said that he had concluded an agreement with NATO leaders to buy American manufacturing weapons, which NATO leaders in Europe indicated that they would then provide Ukraine. So, in fact, it would do NATO, not the United States, the decision of the decision to provide military aid to Ukraine, a sort of exhilaration of Trump’s aversion to American taxpayers who rely on the Defense bill of Ukraine. So it’s a part of this. And then we, as you have noted in your intro, we can see Trump making an announcement concerning new sanctions against the energy sector of Russia, in particular. A set of the Senate that Senator Graham pushed seems to have been reconfigured to give Trump the possibility of using these sanctions at will, as a kind of instant tactics in Moscow.

Detrow: Charles, a long line of Trump time trend in power was his sympathetic point of view towards Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump came into office, once again, promising to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours largely on this relationship. So remind us how we got here.

Maynes: Yes. You know, Trump came by offering to conclude a peace agreement with very generous conditions for Russia. Ukraine should abandon the territory and its candidacy for membership of NATO, for example. There was also this idea of relieving sanctions. And Putin, you know, seemed to be diplomatically engaged accordingly – first in the talks with the United States, with Trump, then with Ukraine. But Putin did not stop saying no to the most important part of any agreement, a ceasefire, even temporary. And so, while negotiations have led to humanitarian agreements – prisoners’ exchanges, for example – war has just continued. In fact, it has grown in power. And so we saw Trump becoming more and more frustrated, even to the point where he now seems to have come to that the criticisms have said from the start, that Putin intentionally leads to negotiations. Here is Trump in the White House last week.

(Soundbit of archived registration)

President Donald Trump: we get a lot of [expletive] I am thrown on it by Putin to – Do you want to know the truth? He is very nice all the time, but it turns out that it does not make sense.

Detrow: What was Kremlin’s response to all of this?

Maynes: Well, Putin did not comment directly, but her spokesperson Dmitry Peskov essentially said that it was not serious, noting that Trump uses a hard language all the time. Now Peskov also said that Russia would adopt an expected approach to Trump’s announcement on Monday. That said, some Russian analysts here say that the Kremlin has never had any illusions about Trump’s ability to end the war, just as they have no illusions that Trump really wants to get more in Ukraine. Sergey Poletaev is with the vatfor analytical website here in Moscow.

Sergey Poletaev: (Russian speaking).

Maynes: So here, Poletaev says that Trump does not have much that he can do to change the war trajectory, either to peace or climbing so long – POLETAEV adds – as Trump is not willing to risk a conflict between the United States and Russia, two nuclear powers, directly. So Poletaev argues that beyond the difficult conversation, Trump’s real options here are quite limited.

Detrow: You have mentioned that the war has increased lately. What is the last?

Maynes: Well, Russia has drawn more than 600 long -range drones and missiles overnight, killing four people, according to the Ukrainian authorities. This is part of a recent scheme where Russia launches hundreds of drones, some ballistic missiles, apparently in order to exhaust the Ukrainian aerial defenses and morale. Now, Ukraine also sends drones to Russian airspace, not as much and not as fatal, but they are certainly wreaking havoc on plane trips. Meanwhile, Russia continues to make slow progress on the battlefield, but with heavy losses. But this is also true for Ukraine, which has trouble strengthening the troops. And all of this apparently convinced that whatever Trump’s actions on Monday or beyond, time is on the side of Russia.

Detow: It’s Charles Maynes from NPR in Moscow. Thank you so much.

Maynes: Thank you, Scott.

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