Putin's peace talk charade aims to stall sanctions — political scientist

Oleh Saakian, political scientist and co-founder of the National Platform for Resilience and Cohesion, stated this on Espreso TV.

"Putin will act according to the Russian proverb: support in form and mockery in essence. He will say that they are studying, will put forward their proposals, that all this has already changed the spirit of Anchorage and requires the introduction of Russian proposals now, and will continue to pull Trump by the causal place. In fact, this whole story was launched for this purpose," Saakian emphasized.

According to the political scientist, the Western coalition is currently in internal conflict, and Ukraine, together with Europe, is fending off Russian manipulations. Meanwhile, Russia feels confident, as sanctions against it are being postponed, and there is currently neither time nor resources for new sanctions. In addition, the issue of Belgium and its position on the arrest of Russian assets is acute.

"A representative of Belgium comes out and says: 'What confiscation? Look, we are on the verge of a negotiation breakthrough, there are negotiations right now. Do you want to disrupt Trump's plan?' That is, Russia did this for this purpose: they created a false target, one big simulation, which we are now forced to fight as a fact of reality," Saakian added.

• The White House says the American administration is optimistic about negotiations on the path to achieving peace in Ukraine."