Trump’s victory over Putin: Kremlin sources admit Vladimir is beneath stress to just accept a deal to finish warfare in Ukraine as they reveal particulars of Russian chief’s secret assembly with rich elite
Vladimir Putin is facing pressure to accept a deal to end the war in Ukraine, as newly-elected President Donald Trump calls on the Russian leader to quash the conflict.
It comes as Putin grows increasingly concerned about distortions in Russia‘s wartime economy, after domestic activity became strained in recent months thanks to labour shortages and high interest rates introduced to tackle inflation.
That has contributed to the view within a section of the Russian elite that a negotiated settlement to the war is desirable, according to two sources familiar with thinking in the Kremlin.
Trump, who returned to office on Monday, has vowed to swiftly resolve the Ukraine conflict, Europe’s biggest since World War Two.
This week he has said more sanctions, as well as tariffs, on Russia are likely unless Putin negotiates, highlighting that Russia was heading for ‘big trouble’ in the economy.
Trump ‘is focused on ending this brutal war,’ by engaging a wide range of stakeholders, White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told reporters.
Just days before Trump’s inauguration, outgoing U.S. president Joe Biden‘s administration imposed the broadest package of sanctions to so far target Russia’s oil and gas revenues, a move that Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said, opens new tab would give Trump leverage in any talks by applying economic pressure on Russia.
A senior Kremlin aide said on Tuesday that Russia had so far received no specific proposals for talks.
Kremlin sources have revealed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is facing pressure to accept a deal to end the war in Ukraine
US President Donald Trump has vowed to swiftly resolve the Ukraine conflict
‘Russia, of course, is economically interested in negotiating a diplomatic end to the conflict,’ Oleg Vyugin, former deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia said in an interview, citing the risk of growing economic distortions as Russia turbo-charges military and defence spending.
The US leader on Wednesday threatened fresh sanctions on Moscow if Russia did not strike a deal to end its nearly three-year campaign against Ukraine.
He delivered the threat on his Truth Social platform.
‘If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,’ Trump posted with his usual mix of idiosyncratic capitalization.
‘Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with!’
Today, the Kremlin reiterated that it has seen nothing new in Trump’s calls for Russia to end its military offensive.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was ‘ready for equal, mutually respectful dialogue.’
‘We are waiting for signals, which we have not yet received,’ he added.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Putin’s forces have controlled large swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine. Image shows Ukrainian rescuers working at the site of an airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine, 08 January, amid the Russian invasion
Trump has not said publicly how he sees the contours of a potential peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
Meanwhile, Putin’s frustration was evident at a Kremlin meeting with business leaders on the evening of December 16, where he scolded top economic officials, sources with knowledge of discussions in the government revealed.
One of the sources, who was briefed after the meeting, was told Putin was visibly displeased after hearing private investment was being cut because of the cost of credit.
The Kremlin released Putin’s introductory comments praising business but did not identify any of the business participants at the mostly closed-door meeting.
On Wednesday, Putin said in televised comments to ministers that he had recently discussed with business leaders the risks of a decrease in credit activity for long-term growth, in an apparent reference to the December meeting.
Some of Russia’s most powerful businessmen, including Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov, aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska and Alexei Mordashov, the largest shareholder in steel-maker Severstal, have publicly criticised the high interest rates.
Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina has faced pressure not to raise rates further from two of Russia’s most powerful bankers – her former boss, Sberbank CEO German Gref, and VTB CEO Andrei Kostin – who feared that Russia was heading towards stagflation, one source with knowledge of discussions about the economy said.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Putin’s forces have controlled large swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, since a surprise attack in August, Kyiv’s forces occupy around 600 sq km of Russian territory.
