Dimitri MINIC
After rejecting the proposals put forward by the new US administration in December 2024 – de facto acceptance of annexations, creation of a demilitarized zone guarded by European peacekeeping forces, renunciation of Ukraine's entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) within 15-20 years – Putin announced on February 12 that he accepted the opening of negotiations with the United States. In the meantime, in January, Trump showed signs of irritation, which were expressed in undiplomatic language and even threats (sanctions, customs duties, use of frozen Russian assets) against Moscow, to which Putin was clever in responding with flattery. Have the terms of the equation changed between December 2024 and February 2025? It seems that D. Trump has agreed to give in on the weak proposal he made to V. Putin (and already unacceptable to Moscow, which was predictable). Thus, since February 12, 2025, there is no longer any question of delaying Ukraine's accession to NATO by 15 to 20 years, but of closing the file - it is probably in this nuance that the real concession to Russia lies. In addition, Washington confirms that it wants to leave to the Europeans the responsibility - if they wish - to create a force to guarantee security for Ukraine - which seems unlikely, both because Moscow will categorically refuse it and because the pusillanimity of the Europeans will prevent them from acting without American cover. Moreover, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the European leaders, with whom Russia has long wanted to meet face to face (without their American protector), seem excluded from the negotiations. The absence among the American negotiators of Washington's special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, probably considered "unfriendly" by the Kremlin, is also revealing.
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