From the CNN:
"Analysis: Putin has outmanoeuvred a host of US presidents. Trump is only the latest
US President Donald Trump is finding out that getting through to Russian President Vladimir Putin is not as easy as he might have thought. But he’s only the latest US leader to fail at an attempt to get Russia and its longtime president on board...
Since returning to the White House, Trump has held at least two lengthy phone calls with Putin and has repeatedly sent his envoy Steve Witkoff to meet the Russian leader in person in Moscow, with the latest trip on Friday.
Unsurprisingly to many Kremlin-watchers, none of these meetings have led to an agreement. Not only did Witkoff come back empty-handed, he also repeated several key Kremlin talking points.
The latest US proposal includes recognizing Russian control of Crimea – a long-standing red line for Ukraine and its European allies, officials familiar with the details have told CNN.
“I would say the negotiations are going very well — from Putin’s point of view,” Angela Stent, a foreign policy expert and former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, told CNN.
“He has no intention of stopping the war, but what he wants, and what he’s getting, is a restoration of US-Russian diplomatic relations.”
“Putin is playing a waiting game because he believes that time is on his side and that he can force Ukraine into a more disadvantageous position and persuade Kyiv and its European allies with the help of Washington that there is no alternative to a peace settlement on Russian terms,” John Lough, the head of foreign policy at New Eurasian Strategies Centre, a think tank based in London and Washington, told CNN...
Trump’s words since coming back into office indicate that he sees the world in a similar way to Putin, Stent said – as consisting of a handful of great powers to whom smaller countries should submit...
Ultimately, Trump has made it clear that he has little interest in the future of Ukraine – even suggesting Ukraine “might be Russia someday.”...
Putin has many tricks in his diplomatic toolbox. He likes to keep his counterparts waiting by turning up late for meetings – sometimes by several hours. He often creates chaotic situations to get more options and can change his mind when it suits him, which makes it even more difficult to negotiate with him.
He is also known to use other ways to assert his power. In 2007, for example, “Putin allowed his Labrador to approach (German Chancellor) Merkel during a photo opportunity, although her fear of dogs was communicated to Russian officials prior to the meeting,” Zhekova said.
Witkoff, a real estate magnate with zero previous experience in politics or diplomacy, has been trying to strike a deal with a former KGB lieutenant colonel who has outlasted five US presidents, eight UK prime ministers, three Chinese leaders and six NATO chiefs, having personally negotiated with many of them...
“(The Trump administration) are eager to have a deal, but unwilling to pay a high cost for that deal – so no US security guarantees, no boots on the ground (and) they’re unwilling to surge US aid to Ukraine as a stick to try to get Russia to make concessions,” said Jennifer Kavanagh, the director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a think tank that advocates for more restrained US foreign policy.
She added that, for Trump, getting the US out of Ukraine and stabilizing relations with Russia are more important than achieving peace.
Putin knows this. Russia’s launch of several major attacks against Ukraine over the past few weeks, including on Kyiv, indicates the Kremlin’s belief that the leverage US has – or is willing to use – is limited.
Trump, of course, is not the first US president to believe he can build a good relationship with Russia.
“Every US administration in my memory has come in with some idea that they’re going to reset – they all use that word – the relationship with Russia, that they have an opportunity to turn the page and start again. And they have always been wrong,” Sam Greene, director for Democratic Resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis, told CNN...
Thomas Graham, a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who was the senior director for Russia on the National Security Council staff from 2004 to 2007, said that the key mistake American presidents made after the breakup of the Soviet Union was thinking that it was possible to develop a broad strategic partnership with Russia.
“I would argue that given Russian interest, given Russian history and Russian traditions, that was never really on the cards. And so we tended to exaggerate the possibilities for cooperation, and then were deeply disappointed when we didn’t get it,” he told CNN..."
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