Putin is doubled at the position of Ukraine’s war after meeting in Beijing

Sometimes this is not what is said to create the biggest impression.

This is the reaction.

In the Far East of Russia, Vladimir Putin made a warning to the West: do not even think about sending soldiers – and this includes peacekeepers – Ukraine.

“If some troops appear there,” said the Russian President, “especially now, while the fighting is ongoing, we continue from the prerequisites that it will be legal goals for destruction.”

Then the reaction.

Viewers at the Economic Forum in Vladivostok invaded applause, and Russian officials and business leaders obviously welcome the threat to “destroy” Western troops.

Watching the scene in the hall, I found applause quite chilled.

And this happened only a day after the Allies of Kiev, the so -called coalition willingly, promised the post -war “assurance” for Ukraine.

The audience applauded again when the Kremlin leader suggested that he would be ready to meet with the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky – but only on his native land.

“The best place for this is the capital of Russia, in Moscow” Hero of the City “,” Putin said.

Outside Russia, Putin’s proposal was rejected as restless, complete non -standard. The case of political trolling.

But in many respects it covers the current position of the Kremlin in the war in Ukraine: “Yes, we want peace, but only under our terms. You reject our conditions? Then there is no peace.”

This uncompromising position is fueled by the combination of factors.

First, according to the Kremlin’s faith, in Ukraine, Russian troops set the initiative on the battlefield.

Secondly, diplomatic success. In China this week, Putin shook his hand and shared his smiles with a line of world leaders. The optics showed that Russia has powerful friends such as China, India and North Korea.

And here is America. Last month, US President Donald Trump invited Putin to Alaska for a meeting at the summit. Returning home, the pro -Kremlin commentators who recognized the event as a testament to the fact that the Western efforts on Russian isolation during the war in Ukraine could not.

To convince the Kremlin to end the fighting Trump previously established ultimatums and terms; He is threatened with further sanctions if Russia does not think.

But Trump did not follow his threats – and this is another reason for confidence in Russia.

Putin publicly praises Trump’s peaceful efforts. Yet he rejected the proposal of Trump’s ceasefire and did not want to make concessions on the war in Ukraine.

So where does it leave the prospects of peace?

Putin recently said he saw “light at the end of the tunnel.”

It seems to me that now Russia, on the one hand, both Ukraine and Europe (and to a certain extent America), on the other, are in different tunnels, on different roads, with different directions.

Ukraine and Europe focused on ending the fighting, the formation of security guarantees for Kyiv and the conviction that the Ukrainian army is strong enough to prevent another invasion.

When Putin talks about the “light at the end of the tunnel”, I believe that it is a path that leads to the Russian victory in Ukraine and, more widely, to the construction of a new global order that benefits Russia.

In terms of peace, it is difficult to understand where and when these two very different highways gather.