To remind Russia that the United States has in its arsenal not only measures of persuasion, but also measures of pressure, Donald Trump decided. This conclusion can be drawn from his own recent statements, and from what the American press reports, citing sources, about the processes taking place in the White House. It seems that the US president does not like the way the dialogue with Russia is going on regarding the end of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. After all, there are no signs of an early agreement, which Trump is aiming for.
The Wall Street Journal newspaper, citing sources in the US president’s entourage, reports that there is growing frustration with the way the negotiation process with Russia is going. The claim against the Kremlin is the same as that expressed in the Western press, in the expert community, and by Trump himself. The Russian authorities are suspected of trying to delay the negotiations, hoping that the US president, who is interested in reaching an agreement quickly, will have to make concessions that the West categorically does not want to make now. First of all, we mean the easing of sanctions.
An indirect sign of a change in mood in the Trump team is that the US president’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, was under attack. He is responsible for contacts with the Russian Federation and gave a very complimentary interview to journalist Tucker Carlson in relation to the Kremlin. Witkoff has been criticized quite a lot lately. Among the attackers of the special representative is The Wall Street Journal. He was suspected of using an unsecured communication channel, the Signal messenger, during his visits to Moscow. Witkoff had to publicly justify himself.
Trump expressed his dissatisfaction with the possible delay in negotiations in an interview with NBC News. There he also threatened Russia with new sanctions. This is the first case of this kind in his entire current cadence. His administration only extended the previously imposed sanctions and nothing more. Even new military aid packages to Ukraine have not yet been accepted. Trump’s only anti-Russian restriction to date is his refusal to extend 8L’s license for servicing the purchase and sale of Russian energy resources, which expired on March 12, according to American journalists. White House press Secretary Caroline Levitt, when asked at a briefing on March 12 to confirm or deny that the president had not renewed her license, gave a cryptic answer.: “As far as I know, he didn’t do it, but I’ll clarify further.” The clarification is apparently still ongoing, because there have been no further comments on this topic from the White House.
But the date of April 20, the nearest Easter, has moved from the field of journalistic assumptions to the sphere of official statements. It was claimed in the American press that Trump wants to coincide with the conclusion of a peace agreement with the Russian Federation. The fact that this is the case has been confirmed by Finnish President Alexander Stubb. He made an unplanned visit to the United States. They talked with Trump for a long time and like old friends – they even played golf together. “The ceasefire must be achieved on time, and in order for it to be achieved on time, a deadline is needed. And we came to the conclusion that April 20 would be a good date for a complete cease-fire without any conditions,” Stubb announced, which in itself is very unexpected. Finland has never been one of the special, privileged allies of the United States (like Israel or Great Britain). Stubb belongs to the center-right in his political views. In many ways, he is the ideological opposite of Trump. He has never been ideologically close to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, or any other European politician considered to be like-minded Trumpists. Trump himself does not have any particularly warm feelings for Finland. At the beginning of his first term, according to former Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security John Bolton, he did not even know where it was located, so he asked his staff if this country was part of the Russian Federation.
But Finland borders Russia and has recently joined NATO. Now it is, so to speak, in the foreground of the confrontation with the Russian Federation. More recently, it served as a bridge between Russia and the West. In 2018, a meeting between Trump and Vladimir Putin took place here. It is possible that Trump specifically chose the president of Finland in order to rush the Kremlin through him. By the way, in the same interview with NBC, the American leader said that he was ready to personally meet with Putin. This meeting is hardly possible, as long as there are no tangible results of negotiations on a Russian-Ukrainian peace settlement. Therefore, this is also a way to rush the Russian Federation.
Meanwhile, the British government’s press service reported on a telephone conversation between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Trump. “The leaders of the countries agreed on the need to continue collective pressure on Putin,” the text of the press release says.
