The Easter Truce and a War

During his campaign as Republican candidate, U.S. President Donald Trump promised to end Russia-Ukraine war on the very first day in office. He now knowns how difficult the promise was!

After over sixty days, two questions are prominently arising globally:

First, has Kremlin managed to frustrate Washington?

And secondly, what is Russia up to?

The Latest Stand of the United States

The latest stand of the United States on Russia-Ukraine peace negotiation is: the United States will walk away from its efforts to broker peace unless there is a clear sign of progress, expressed by both by President Trump and his Secretary of States Marco Rubio on Friday.

The United States is in no mood to give much time to decide whether to ‘go on’ or to ‘go away’ from the peace brokering. "Quickly, we want to get it done," President Trump maintained in one of his statements at the White House on Friday. Secretary of States Rubio met European and Ukrainian leaders in Paris this week and said that the U.S. was “not going to continue with its endeavour for weeks and months on end”, and will take a decision soon whether or not to go on in its work of brokering peace or walk away. U.S. President Trump, however, hoped that President Vladimir Putin was not stalking the peace negotiation.

While the United States has been making nearly an all-out effort in ending the Russia-Ukraine war applying various ways, Russia has chosen to go very slow. Or rather it has chosen to appear going. Kremlin does not fail to maintain that some progress on a peace settlement had already been made, and that Russia has the “willingness” in the peace negotiation.

However, there appears to be a clear frustration on the part of the United States over the issue, and that Trump as well as his top diplomats have a feeling that their efforts are being just wasted, and that peace deal in Russia-Ukraine has gone elusive.

Not just for the U.S, but there is has grown a general feeling that Russia is not forthcoming in the peace deal and all efforts are just mechanical, aimed at no real, definitive peace. As the war between the two nations have progressed in the last three years, Russia is in the upper hand and now that the U.S. has nearly withdrawn itself from supporting Ukraine, Russia’s confidence has grown proportionately on the face of a weak Ukraine that now is dependent entirely on the European Union.

The Phone call

Trump and Putin, the two top leaders of the world held telephonic conversation to discuss ending the war. Their diplomatic teams met at different places and efforts were made to speed up not just ending the war but also to mend diplomatic relations between the two nations. Ukraine is also ready to sign the mineral deal with the United States as part of the requirement of the peace deal, as required by the United States. This hasn’t happened, however.

The Easter Truce

Russian President Putin has announced an ‘Easter Truce” in Russia-Ukraine war for 30 hours, as against peace proposal. This comes after U.S. President Trump vents out his disappointment over his effort in brokering peace between the two warring nations. The Truce is Russian President Putin’s way to respond and convince Washington that Russia is genuinely interested in peace.

What if the U.S. pulls out of brokering peace!

In the global political community, Russian President Putin will appear as a ‘no-peace’, ‘yes-war’ man.  At the same time, Putin may not be willing to give Trump all the credit for ending the war and becoming a ‘peace-man’ in history. If none of these, then President Putin knows what other don’t, about himself.

Does Russia want Peace?

Difficult to say in ‘yes’ or ‘no’ type answer, but going by the hardline adopted by President Putin in the peace negotiation, it could be analysed that Kremlin may have been misjudged by Washington. President Putin has managed to withhold all economic sanctions so far, and hence is in no hurry to end war. In fact, some analysts opine that war may end with Ukraine eventually annexed.