NATO Chief: Putin Envoy Derailed Ukraine Peace Talks with Lecture on 800 Years of Russian History
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte revealed in conversation with President Donald Trump on Monday that the Russian government sabotaged peace talks with Ukraine in May by sending a historian to meticulously document the history of Russia beginning in 1250.
Rutte was in Washington to meet with President Trump, who announced a plan to dramatically expand Ukraine’s access to American weapons and laid down an ultimatum to Russian leader Vladimir Putin that requires him to conclude his invasion of Ukraine in 50 days or face punitive secondary tariffs of 100 percent on Russian trade partners. Trump told reporters the deadline was necessary because the Russian government, and Putin personally, were refusing to engage authentically with Kyiv to find an end to the conflict. Trump complained that Putin would be polite and gracious in private phone calls, then immediately escalate the mass killing of civilians, outraging the American president.
Trump has prioritized finding an end to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, since long before his inauguration to a second term in office. He has emphasized the need for both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to engage in difficult conversations earnestly, sternly pressuring Zelensky and scolding him for not being ready for peace following a failed White House engagement in February. In the past month, however, Trump has increasingly expressed frustration with Putin as Zelensky has stepped up attempts to hold viable negotiations.
“I felt that we had a deal about four times and here we are still talking about it,” Trump told reporters on Monday, appearing to blame Russia, not Ukraine, for the failure.
Rutte, sitting alongside Trump, explained that the latest round of talks failed because the Russian government did not take them seriously. (Read more from “NATO Chief: Putin Envoy Derailed Ukraine Peace Talks with Lecture on 800 Years of Russian History” HERE)
