Trump pushes for ceasefire to improve relations with Putin - political analyst

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"I think that the big deal, or oborudka as it is called in Russian, that Trump wanted to make from the very beginning is exactly the deal with Putin. And it's not entirely about Ukraine, it's a bilateral deal about many other and more important things for Trump, including the restructuring of the global system. But first and foremost, of course, as a businessman, he is interested in joint business with Vladimir Putin. And I think this oborudka is about a future business deal that can begin after forcing Ukraine to end, as Trump calls it, the war, but in fact, to stop resisting the aggression. That's actually why all this is happening, which is why it's so private, why it's done through unofficial channels, with a private special representative who is not a government official, and then, in a private atmosphere, at the ranch or, as it is called, at the golf club Mar-a-Lago, in a private conversation, tells Trump about his private projects," he said.

Volodymyr Horbach believes that a ceasefire is necessary for U.S. President Donald Trump to free his hands in relations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

"Why there hasn't been a phone call yet is obviously because no business deal was made (during Witkoff's visit to Russia). We know the large appetites of New York developers; they could have set terms that the Kremlin didn't accept. And so the philosophy of the two philosophers didn’t quite match in numbers. That's why they took time to think and perhaps negotiate some mutual concessions. As for the ceasefire, Donald Trump, of course, needs it to free his hands in relations with Vladimir Putin. In my opinion, this is definitely his key motivation. There’s already a behavioral model - Israel and Gaza. Before his inauguration, Donald Trump demanded a deal and a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Israel was forced to do this through the rough pressure of Steve Witkoff, who had been appointed Trump's special representative for the Middle East, not for Russia. And why was this necessary? To deal with Saudi Arabia," the expert noted.

According to the political analyst, what worries Trump the most is that while the war between Russia and Ukraine continues, money is not being made.

"The first visit was planned to Saudi Arabia, and the topic was oil, meaning the same business and money. And in order to free Trump's hands in this direction for a meeting with the Saudi crown prince, a ceasefire in Gaza was needed. After that, something didn't go quite as planned. All of this is repeating itself on the Ukrainian front. It's the same model, the same pattern of behavior, as they say. It’s repeating on the Ukrainian-Russian front with the help of the same people, the same Steve Witkoff. So, a ceasefire is important, but not so much that Donald Trump is suffering from new victims because the benefit hasn't been gained; money isn't being made during the war. Rather, someone else is making money, not him. Perhaps Vladimir Putin, for example, although he spends it," added Volodymyr Horbach.

Witkoff-Putin talk

On the night of March 13-14, it was reported that Steve Witkoff held talks in Moscow. 

On March 13, Alexander Lukashenko also visited Moscow and met with Vladimir Putin. 

On March 14, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that following Witkoff's conversation with Putin, “there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end.”

Meanwhile, on the same day, SkyNews reported that during his visit to Moscow, Witkoff waited eight hours to meet with Putin, who was engaged in talks with Alexander Lukashenko.

U.S. President Donald Trump denied media reports that his special representative, Steve Witkoff, had supposedly waited 8 hours to meet with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

On March 16, U.S. Special Representative Steve Witkoff announced that a phone conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is expected next week.