Russian President Vladimir Putin may be open to a cease-fire in his war with Ukraine, so long as the country could still declare victory, a new report by the New York Times found.
Putin, still confident in his forces, said that Russia’s goals have not changed. In his annual year-end press conference last week, Putin warned that there would be no peace solution in Ukraine until Russia achieves its overarching goals, the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine.
Putin’s message might be different now, as he has reportedly signaled he is ready to make a deal. Since September, Putin has signaled that he is open to a pause in fighting along the current lines, which is much shorter than his intention to dominate Ukraine, according to the Times who cited two former senior Russian officials.
According to the United Nations, more than 10,000 civilians have been killed and 18,500 have been injured since the start of the war nearly two years ago.
And since he runs the state propaganda/news stations, nothing would stop him from claiming that they successfully killed all the Nazis in Ukraine. “We went in and killed all the Nazis so we’re pulling all our troops out.”
Of course, they would need to give back the territories that they annexed as well as all the children that they stole. Not to mention pay reparations for all the damage that they did/suffering they caused. Again, though, Putin could spin this to his people. “We only temporarily annexed those areas to denazify them and always planned on returning them to Ukraine. Same with the kids. And since we accidentally destroyed some infrastructure in ‘helping’ Ukraine rid itself of Nazis, we’re generously helping them rebuild.”
Of course, nobody but those who buy Russian propaganda will believe this, but Putin just needs the appearance of everything going according to his plans.