Russia will continue its war until it is stopped from the outside – Austrian political scientist

Austrian independent political scientist Martin Malek stated this in an exclusive commentary to Ukrinform.

“The telephone conversation between Trump and Putin on 19 May (naturally) brought no ‘sensations’. According to all the information available so far, the Russian dictator (continuing his well-known policy) tried to ensure that Washington exerted pressure on Ukraine. And it also became clear once again that Moscow is endeavouring to exclude Ukraine as far as possible from agreements on its future fate and only ‘agree’ on whatever with Trump,” the political scientist commented on the conversation between the U.S. president and the Russian dictator.

According to Malek, on the eve of this conversation, the Kremlin dictator made it clear that he was thinking about peace by launching the largest drone attack on Ukrainian cities since the beginning of the war.

“This was Putin’s way of showing his contempt for Trump. However, there was no indication that the U.S. President had understood this. Instead, he declared that he did not consider Putin ‘an obstacle on the path to peace,” the Austrian political scientist said.

He also noted that the recent Ukrainian-Russian talks in Turkey were merely an “imitation,” largely due to the Kremlin’s stance. This was exemplified by Putin’s decision not to travel to Istanbul, where President Zelensky awaited him, but instead to send a low-ranking delegation in his place.

“Instead of Putin, a low-ranking Russian delegation travelled to Turkey, led by the notorious falsifier of history and conspiracy theorist Vladimir Medinsky. This made it clear from the very beginning that the negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation, led by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, would be a “farce” – and that is exactly what happened. The Russians on 16 May demanded the official cession of Crimea as well as the territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia (although it militarily controls only the latter three in part), which the Ukrainian side naturally rejected,” he said.

The expert noted that all the calls from Western politicians to Putin since the start of the large-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022 “have not only failed to ease tensions (or even bring about ‘peace’) in Ukraine, but have actually had the opposite effect: Putin had to conclude that he is not even isolated because of his war of annihilation against Ukraine, but is still considered a desirable negotiating partner. And this, in turn, from his specific point of view confirms the ‘rightness’ of his war and all his other activities,” Malek added.

In his opinion, many other politicians in the West also mistakenly believe that Russia, waging war against Ukraine, wants peace.

“Trump is not the only one pushing for ‘negotiations with Putin’. Many other Western politicians, social scientists and journalists (including, for example, the opinion-leading Austrian television and radio correspondent in Ukraine) are doing the same. However, they fail to mention that, at least in theory, negotiations to end the war are not necessary at all: Russia would simply have to cease fire and withdraw its troops from the whole of Ukraine. Basically, the constant Western calls for ‘negotiations’ are absolutely counterproductive: for the Kremlin, they are just a sign of weakness, which it wants to exploit on the battlefield,” he said.

He stressed that Russia would not pursue peace unless pressured by external forces.

“Even if many in Western Europe and North America still do not want to understand this after more than three years of the ‘big’ war against Ukraine: Russia will not stop it because of negotiations. Instead, it will continue until it is stopped from the outside. But this is precisely what is not on the horizon, not least because of the inadequate foreign aid for Ukraine,” the political scientist said.

As reported by Ukrinform, on May 19, U.S. President Donald Trump held a two-hour conversation with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. He stated that Russia and Ukraine should immediately begin negotiations for a ceasefire and an end to the war. According to Trump, he believes that Putin seeks peace with Ukraine.