Three European countries become new protagonists in Russia-ukraine negotiations. The United States may be ready to recognize Crimea as Russian territory
As the Russian-ukrainian talks stalled, President Donald Trump threatened to abandon the Ukrainians if the Europeans and the Ukrainians didn’t give up the war and move on to other priorities. Secretary of State Rubio, after high-level talks with French, British, German and Ukrainian officials in Paris, also said the Ukraine talks can not remain stalled. If there is no sign of agreement between Russia and Ukraine in the short term, the US will not continue to mediate.
Rubio also said after the Paris talks that Britain, France and Germany could help move events forward and bring Russia and Ukraine closer to a solution and that European thinking was very useful and constructive.
At a sensitive juncture in the stalled Russian-ukrainian talks, Putin abruptly and unilaterally suspended all Russian military operations for 30 hours over Easter, a gesture of goodwill towards Donald Trump and the US. Separately, the US is considering recognising Russian control of Crimea, perhaps another move by Donald Trump to finalise a peace deal as soon as possible.