March 13, 2025 (EIRNS)—There are numerous comments coming from Russian politicians and commentators over the last 48 hours, which converge on the view that the 30-day ceasefire proposal, as it stands, does not meet Russia’s requirement that a long-term solution addressing underlying causes of the war has to be put on the table. But they also argue that the two key interlocutors are Trump and Putin, and they will continue to talk and negotiate.
A concise example of this approach came from Russian Federation Council Vice Speaker Senator Konstantin Kosachev. TASS reported Kosachev having written in his Telegram channel that “Russia is advancing, and this is why it will be different with Russia. Any agreements (with all understanding of the need for compromises) are on our terms, not American ones. And this is not our faith in easy victory, but understanding that real agreements are still being written there, at the front. This is something that Washington should also understand.” Kosachev added that Zelenskyy is “on the back foot,” and that “the most important thing now is not to interfere with the Russian-U.S. negotiations with unrelated comments” and “let the negotiators work.”
Sergey Poletaev, co-founder of the Vatfore project, wrote in RT that “it appears Moscow and Washington have reached an initial framework for a peace agreement. The broad strokes seem to include no military guarantees for Ukraine, no path to NATO membership, and a change in Kiev’s leadership.
