Now Russia's Position Is Utterly Desperate
- 16.05.2025, 18:55
The crazy decision hardly promises Putin a calm and cloudless old age.
Despite all the entreaties of both Trump, European leaders, Brazilian President Luis Lula da Silva, and almost certainly Si Jinping behind him, and the hospitable Recep Erdogan, Putin did not go to Istanbul for direct talks with President Vladimir Zelensky.
The Kremlin reported via Dmitry Peskov that there was a meeting between Putin and all of Russia's real leadership - Bortnikov, Naryshkin, Zolotov, Lavrov, Denis Manturov, Andrei Belousov, and General Gerasimov. It is clear that Peskov is not informing the world of the facts, but creating an ideological veil.
The urbi et orbi of the Kremlin meeting, like the arrival in Istanbul of third-rate, worthless Kremlin officials, is a message to the world, from Trump to Chairman Xi - Moscow will not go for peace, it has assessed its strength and intends to continue the war.
As on the eve of February 24, 2022, a "collective decision of the leadership" was made on May 14 and, accordingly, collective responsibility for the continuation of the war was declared.
Some indications are clear that this decision was not given easily. Most likely, Putin's entourage, at least part of it, tried to persuade the dictator to go to peace talks and agree to the proposals of the entire (minus North Korea) world community. Hence the hesitation, the silence, and the "intrigue" of the Istanbul meeting, in the words of Sergei Lavrov. But Putin could not be persuaded.
Now Russia's position is absolutely desperate - exhaustion of the national economy, extreme war fatigue in society, absolute futility of military operations, the outside world consolidated against the aggressor-Russia, Putin humiliated by his main potential allies - Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Recep Erdogan, 80-year-old Lula da Silva, who decided to make a difficult stop in Moscow on his way from Beijing. Indeed, there was a topic for a meeting in the Kremlin at that level.
The tyrant's insane decision, at a moment when the whole world was offering Russia a convenient way out of the war without losing face, hardly promises Putin a calm and cloudless old age.
Andrei Zubov, Facebook