Russia and the US discuss the end of the Ukrainian war

The European leaders scramble ahead of Trump’s Ukraine summit with Putin. “This is the worst nightmare of Europe,” says Elie Tenenbaum

Europe’s leaders called an emergency meeting in Paris after they were excluded from the peace negotiations in Saudi Arabia.

The gulf between the U.S. and Europe on the Ukraine war and security issues crystallized for Europeans this past weekend at the Munich Security Conference, says Elie Tenenbaum, head of the Security Studies Center at the French Institute for International Relations.

“Their worst nightmare has come true,” he says. “They see that the Trump administration will push for a deal with Russia to end the war in Ukraine and that they will have no choice but to follow suit.”

The European leaders were hopeful that the US and Europe could work together under the new administration. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President J.D. Vance, and special Russia-Ukraine envoy General Keith Kellogg as well as President Trump himself made comments about Europe last week.

German Christian Democrat Norbert Röttgen, a longtime advocate for transatlantic alliances, said the Trump administration had in effect declared an ideological war on Europe. “They want to divide us and kill Europe,” he told French newspaper Le Monde.

Source: European leaders scramble ahead of Trump’s Ukraine summit with Putin

The U.S.-Russian detente triggered by the Stubb phrase in Helsinki: What is next in a long term relationship between Europe and Russia?

Alexander Stubb, the President of the Republic ofFinland, summed up the situation by using a famous phrase from the Soviet Union. There are decades where there is nothing to do and weeks where decades happen.

Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky pleaded in Munich for Europe to join Ukraine in building a European fighting force “so that Europe’s future depends only on Europeans, and decisions about Europe are made in Europe,” he said to resounding applause.

“Zelensky is saying this is our moment — where we either stand up and fight or we give up and let the Russians and the Americans draw the lines,” says Tenenbaum.

Monday’s meeting hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, will be joined by the leaders of Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark. As well as European Commission head Ursula Von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

A peace deal was guaranteed in an article written by the U.K. Prime Minister.

Tenenbaum says Europeans will have to fight for a place at the negotiating table “to be enough of a troublemaker that the U.S. and Russia realize the process may derail if they’re kept out of the room.”

Senior US and Russian delegations gathered for talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, as they began their initial round of high-stakes negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, speaking on the eve of the Saudi meeting, Lavrov reminded that Trump and Putin in their phone call had agreed to end this “not normal period,” when Moscow and Washington refused to talk to one another.

The U.S. team also includes national security adviser Mike Waltz and, notably, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff. Russian officials helped negotiate a prisoner exchange last week that freed American teacher Mr. Fogel.

“It was a very serious discussion on all questions that we wanted to touch on,” said Ushakov, adding that both sides agreed better relations were in the interests of both Washington and Moscow.

The sudden U.S.-Russian detente has stunned U.S. allies in Europe and Ukranian who fear that they will be caught up in the negotiations that determine their futures.

Neither was invited to participate in the Saudi talks, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that Kyiv would not recognize any agreements made in its absence.

The Kremlin’s Choice: Why the U.S. President isn’t in a War of Games: The Case of Trump and Putin

In a sign of the new spirit of cooperation, the Kremlin confirmed Monday it had approved the unilateral release of an American caught with a small amount of cannabis in his luggage at a Moscow airport earlier this month.

The Biden years saw several Americans get lengthy prison sentences for the same charges. They were among several Americans jailed by Russia on dubious charges in what the Biden administration said was a pattern of Russian “hostage diplomacy” to promote prisoner swaps.

“They say we should probably give territorial concessions — but what for?” said Lavrov. “So ethnic Russians who live there can be destroyed?” alluding to alleged atrocities by Ukrainian troops that have not been independently verified.

President Trump has publicly said any peace rested on Ukraine ending its NATO ambitions and relinquishing territory seized by Moscow — in essence ceding to two key Russian demands.

The former aide to the president thinks that the U.S. president has little interest in the terms of a settlement.

According to Markov, the only thing that Trump is concerned about is his image. He appears to have an image of being strong. He should not look like a loser.

Putin has extended an invitation for Trump to visit Moscow in the near future. The gesture has caused speculation Trump could join Putin on Red Square this May — when Russia commemorates the 80th anniversary of its victory in another war: World War II.