Trump’s frustration is hopeful signal: diplomat on Kremlin’s delay in peace talks

He expressed this opinion in an interview with Antin Borkovskyi, host of the Studio West program on Espreso TV.

"Putin will attempt to manipulate Trump. He is already doing so. Putin is very skilled at this sort of thing. Judging by his interview with Tucker Carlson, Steve Witkoff appears to have accepted some Russian arguments that he should not have accepted. So, the danger is that Putin will be able to convince Trump to act in accordance with Putin's analysis of the situation, in line with Russian interests," Fried noted.

According to him, Trump is very good at sensing when someone is trying to use him for their own interests, and he strongly dislikes it. He doesn't want to appear manipulated and can't stand being seen as someone who has been outplayed.

"Now, there are those in the Trump world who understand the Russians reasonably well. There are others who have no idea what the Russians are like. As a rule, Russian officials will lie to their interlocutors based on their assessment of their interlocutors' knowledge or ignorance. In other words, when you start talking to the Russians, you'd better know what you're talking about because they will not act in good faith. This is the problem that the Trump administration has. There are people in the administration who understand the Russians, but I'm not sure... I am fairly sure that not all of them do. And therein lies the problem. But Trump's instincts may be suggesting to him that Putin is stalling, and Trump may not appreciate that. That is actually a hopeful sign that we have seen in recent days," the diplomat concluded.

• On April 4, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Ukraine is ready for peace, and soon the U.S. will know if Russia is also ready. If Russia continues to drag out the negotiations, the U.S. position may change.