Mission impossible? President Trump tasked retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg with ending the war in Ukraine in 100 days, the report revealed. Wall Street Journal Tuesday January 22. While he still assured, last November 6, that he could “resolve the conflict in 24 hours”, the billionaire now admits that he needs a little more time. However, the new strong man of the United States is still determined to get involved in this geopolitical aspect.
Since his inauguration on Monday January 20, the 78-year-old Republican has increased the pressure on his Russian counterpart. A few hours after taking the oath, he declared that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “wanted to make an agreement” and judged that by refusing to do so, Vladimir Putin was “destroying Russia”. Not hesitating to threaten the Russian economy with new sanctions at the start of the week. If Moscow does not conclude an agreement with Ukraine “now”, Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday that he would have “no choice but to impose high levels of taxes, customs duties and sanctions on everything Russia sells to the United States.
“It is time to find an agreement,” the American president wrote on his Truth Social network, repeating: “I am not trying to harm Russia. I love the Russian people and I have always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin. “If we do not reach an agreement, quickly, I will have no choice but to increase taxes, tariffs and sanctions on anything that can be sold by Russia to the United States, as well as in the different countries which will join in”, insisted the Republican. Without giving a date, he also planned to meet his Kremlin counterpart, which would be a first since the Russian invasion of February 24, 2022.
A “much more difficult” agreement
Donald Trump could make Ukraine a personal issue, at the risk of crushing Keith Kellogg. “He never gives his opinion unless I ask him,” the president once said about his emissary, according to comments by John Bolton, former national security adviser at the White House in 2018. and 2019, reported by the Wall Street Journal. Although he gained military experience during the Vietnam War, Keith Kellogg never served as a diplomat and should not participate in any real negotiations with Russia, according to former colleagues.
The latter affirm, always in the Wall Street Journal, that he was named special envoy for Ukraine following a co-authored draft peace plan last year that was deeply critical of the Biden administration. “As part of a concession to Russia, the plan advised NATO not to accept Ukraine into its alliance and to offer Moscow some sanctions relief in exchange for signing a peace agreement. peace”, add our colleagues, specifying that this road map had been mocked by the Russian camp.
For its part, Russia, for its part, has not shown much interest in the appointment of this retired lieutenant general. If the Kremlin has suggested that the understanding between Trump and Putin could lead to better relations with the United States, the 47th American president should not be too sure of himself, because the path promises to be strewn with pitfalls, warns the American newspaper: “Concluding an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin will be much more difficult than Donald Trump promised during the election campaign.” John Bolton, according to whom the Russian leader “knows how to play with Trump”, fears that the American president, during the upcoming negotiations, will force kyiv into costly concessions towards Moscow.
A favorable context for Russia
Especially since the Kremlin finds itself in a favorable position, maintaining its advantage on the military level, without ceasing to gain ground. On Wednesday, Russian troops claimed the capture of the village of Zapadné, in the Kharkiv region (north-east) and now find themselves just a few kilometers from Kupiansk, a town which had around 25,000 inhabitants before the war and which constitutes the main Ukrainian stronghold in this area. “The interest for Vladimir Putin, who has managed to find economic solutions in the face of Western sanctions, to negotiate therefore does not seem obvious,” comment our colleagues from Figaro.
Vladimir Putin still opens a door to negotiations. In his message of congratulations to the new American president, he made it known that he remained “open to dialogue” with the aim of seeking “lasting peace” rather than a “brief truce”. A slim hope in the region.