It’s evening in Moscow, mid-afternoon in Washington. And still there is no final word from the White House of concrete action on Donald Trump’s threatened secondary sanctions against Russia in the absence of any indication from Vladimir Putin of a desire to end to the war in Ukraine.

Following Wednesday’s meeting in Moscow between Putin and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump spoke of the likelihood of a meeting between himself and Putin, possibly within the next week, to be followed by a three-way meeting to include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But hours later, when asked whether Putin would have to agree to meet with Zelensky as a pre-condition to an initial meeting with Trump, Trump replied:

“No, he doesn’t. They would like to meet with me, and I’ll do whatever I can to stop the killing.” [Shannon K. Kingston, Chris Boccia and Emily Chang, ABC News, August 8, 2025.]

According to former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, if Trump and Putin meet with no concessions on Putin’s part, and without any real progress toward a resolution of the conflict, “It’s only an achievement for Putin. I don’t think it’s an achievement for the West, for the United States, for President Trump. Putin wants to be back as a player. He wants to . . . get out of this isolation. He wants to get out of being the pariah.” [Id.]

And Maria Snegovaya, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that a meeting with Trump would mark “the end of diplomatic isolation for Putin. He’s meeting potentially the most powerful presence in the world without necessarily giving any serious concessions or anything at all to the White House.” [Id.]

So it’s beginning to look as though Putin has done it again: bought further time for himself by offering to meet one-on-one with Trump — a tactic that would only benefit Putin by returning him to the world stage as an equal, rather than a political outcast . . . and at the same time offer him the forum he desires to reiterate his outrageous conditions for a peaceful settlement.

And Trump seems to have hesitated.

But the day isn’t over yet.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/8/25