If U.S. had political will, Putin would crawl to the negotiating table, diplomat says

This was reported by Espreso correspondent Natalia Starepravo.

Does the United States still have influence over Russia?

When asked whether the U.S. still has influence over Russia today, the former foreign minister emphasized that the influence is “tremendous.”

“And if the U.S. administration had the political will to use that influence, believe me, Putin wouldn’t just come running—he’d be crawling to the negotiating table, begging not to be hit too hard. Unfortunately, we don’t see that political will from the Americans right now. Sadly, we keep hearing that America is ‘above this war,’ that it doesn’t want to take sides, that it can’t tell who’s the aggressor and who’s the victim,” Ohryzko said.

He added that this is likely the reason why, to this day, the U.S. hasn’t taken the measures it should have.

“What are we talking about here? Two simple things: first, comprehensive military aid to Ukraine; second, tough, truly crippling sanctions on the Russian economy. Look, even just starting with the second—if the U.S. imposed sanctions on countries that buy Russian resources—gas, oil, coal, aluminum, and so on—that’s it. In two months, the Russian economy would grind to a halt; it would collapse. But we’re not seeing that. Why? For reasons that, at the very least, are unclear to me, Trump doesn’t want to get involved,” the ex-minister explained.

On Ukraine’s relations with European partners

“Our coalition remains the same. We are part of Europe, and right now, we need to make our voice heard—loudly, clearly, and forcefully. You know… today, Ukraine’s army is the strongest, and even NATO military leaders acknowledge that. The question is whether we can seize this opportunity now, because we might not get another one. As we push to create a new European security system, we will be at the center of that system. And it won’t be about us getting invited to the table—we’ll be the ones doing the inviting,” Ohryzko noted.

He also expressed the view that “to make this happen, we need to be proactive, respond quickly, and rally everyone who can really influence the situation.”

“We need to turn the ‘coalition of the willing’ into a ‘coalition of the determined,’ made up of countries ready to actually make an impact and not be afraid of their own shadow,” the ex-minister added.

On the work of Ukrainian diplomats and mistakes in relations with the U.S.

When asked about mistakes in Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts, particularly with the United States, Ohryzko emphasized the professionalism of Ukraine’s representatives.

“I think we’ve made practically no mistakes. And to be honest, I’m proud of my colleagues in the diplomatic service, who are making an enormous contribution to our victory. Without the diplomatic front, the military front would be much harder. I think it’s fair to say that, in the vast majority of cases, our diplomats are doing extremely important and useful work. And these days, diplomacy isn’t narrowly specialized—there’s high-level diplomacy, parliamentary diplomacy, government diplomacy. There’s even civil society diplomacy. So, if we look at the overall performance of Ukraine’s diplomacy, it’s at a solid professional level,” Ohryzko concluded.

• Оn May 8, U.S. President Donald Trump called for a full, unconditional ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, threatening new sanctions for any violations.