According to the former US ambassador to Russia, who spoke to the BBC, dealing with the Kremlin is difficult, which is why President Vladimir Putin won't give up easily in the Ukraine.
Prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, John Sullivan represented America in Moscow.
The former US ambassador is the one who spoke with Russian officials about averting war, but "there was no engagement," according to him.
They pressed for security guarantees for Russia but refused to have a productive conversation about security for Ukraine. They never strayed from their talking points; the whole thing was a charade. " .
He says that President Vladimir Putin "wasn't interested in negotiating before the war" when I ask if the US should put more effort into continuing those discussions to try to end the conflict. He is still uninterested in bargaining.
Instead, the Biden administration has concentrated on gaining international support for arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia while also sending billions of dollars' worth of weapons to that nation.
Mr. Putin reiterated in a speech on Tuesday that he believed the West had started the conflict, that it was using Ukraine to try to deal Moscow a "strategic defeat," and that Russia, not Ukraine, was fighting for its very existence.
The Kremlin's initial stated objectives to "de-Nazify" and "demilitarize" Ukraine, according to Mr. Sullivan, have not changed despite the failures of Moscow's self-declared special military operation. He interprets that as "overthrowing the Kyiv government and reducing the Ukrainian people to servitude.".
This is a component of a plan President Putin has presented to bring the disparate Russian peoples back together after the fall of the Soviet Union.
"He can't have a democratically elected government," says Mr. Sullivan, "especially one in Kiev headed by President [Volodymyr] Zelensky.". He considers that government to be a threat to Russia and his ideal of this expanded Russian state, so he will never be content as long as it exists. " .
What then would Mr. Putin need to do to end the war?
Mr. Sullivan asserts, "He has to be persuaded that he can't win. He will continue to wager money until he is persuaded that there is simply no chance of him succeeding. He's not there yet, but I'm not sure how significant his battlefield setbacks would have to be for him to get there. " .
The Russian president, in the words of Mr. Sullivan, "has a vision for what he wants to accomplish that he will not surrender easily.".
But neither will the Ukrainians, according to Mr. Sullivan, who claims that one of Mr. Putin's war's strategic failures was alienating the 44 million-strong Slavic nation.
The Ukrainian people, he asserts, "aren't going to forget and forgive.". "Even if President Zelenksy desired to end the conflict, desired to cede territory, desired to essentially surrender, the Ukrainian people would not permit him. " .
With such a military, political, and ideological impasse, the US must be ready for a protracted conflict.
President Joe Biden demonstrated America's commitment by paying a surprise visit to Kyiv on the anniversary of the invasion, but Mr. Sullivan does not anticipate that the conflict will be resolved this year.
I don't know beyond that," he says. However, Mr. Putin does not want an exit. The objectives of this unique military operation will be accomplished. He consistently says that.
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