Donald Trump offers Vladimir Putin a way to come back from the cold

A single telephone call will not end the war in Ukraine as if by magic.

Translections can now start. Exactly when and how they will end is not clear.

But President Vladimir Putin has already marked something of a diplomatic victory simply by holding this telephone conversation.

After all, three years ago, he was in the political desert.

Putin’s decision to launch a large -scale invasion of Ukraine had transformed it into pariah.

The United Nations General Assembly has massively adopted a resolution condemning Russia for its “illegal use of force against Ukraine”.

Russia has been affected by thousands of international sanctions. The following year, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against the head of the Kremlin.

As for the President of the United States – then Joe Biden – he left no doubt about what he thought of his Russian counterpart, condemning Putin as a “murderous dictator” and a “pure thug”.

After Russia launched its large -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there were no more telephone calls between Putin and Biden.

Quick advance until 2025.

A change of president has made a change in style, a language change – and an American approach completely different from Russia.

Trump says he wants to “work together, very closely” with Putin to end the war in Ukraine. He hopes they “will visit the nations”.

Obviously, Vladimir Putin, who invited Trump to Moscow.

If this visit goes ahead, it means a major change in American-Russian relations. An American president has not visited Russia for more than a decade.

In many ways, Putin already has what he wants-the possibility of negotiating directly with the United States on Ukraine, perhaps above the heads of kyiv and Europe-as well as the opportunity to put yourself at the upper table of international policy.

It is not clear, however, how far Putin will be willing to make compromises.

Russian officials claim that Moscow is ready for talks, but still referred to the so-called Putin peace proposal in June 2024, which is more similar to an ultimatum.

As part of this plan, Russia could keep all the Ukrainian territory it has seized, and some additional land still under Ukrainian control.

In addition to this, Ukraine would not be authorized to join NATO and Western sanctions against Russia would be abandoned.

As a Russian newspaper said it earlier this week: “Russia is ready for conferences. But according to its conditions.

“If you drop the diplomatic language, this is essentially called an ultimatum.”