Vladimir Putin told Russian businessmen “not to be naive” and expect a quick resolution to the Ukraine war, according to reports.
Speaking shortly before his Wednesday phone call with Donald Trump, the Russian president allegedly warned business owners that any negotiations to end the conflict would be “slow and difficult.”
The reports, which come from Russian business journalists Farida Rustamova and Maxim Tovkaylo, were then repeated by the US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in its daily update on Thursday.
The president reportedly told the businessmen in private to prepare for a protracted war in a private meeting at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Congress.
Putin also publicly said at the Congress that Moscow should not expect the west to lift sanctions quickly.
It’s part of a wider narrative coming from the Kremlin “about the difficulty of negotiations, the illegitimacy of Ukrainian officials, and US-European divisions”, according to researchers at the ISW.
It all suggests Russia expects a prolonged war in Ukraine – and peace only on Russian terms.
As the ISW summarised: “Putin and other Kremlin officials will likely continue messaging to domestic audiences that the war in Ukraine remains a protracted Russian effort and that Russia will not make peace in Ukraine quickly.”
The Russian leader was also believed to be late to his scheduled call with Trump, even dismissing concerns about his tardiness while live on stage minutes beforehand.
All of these reported remarks appear to be out of step with the optimism coming out of the White House.
After speaking to Putin, Trump claimed ceasefire efforts were “very much on track,” while his press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “We have never been this close to peace.”
Trump’s special US envoy Steve Witkoff even told Bloomberg on Wednesday that the president believes a “full ceasefire” will take place in “a couple of weeks”.
Russia also launched a series of drone strikes against its European neighbour, just hours after Putin spoke to Trump and agreed to a partial ceasefire on Ukraine’s “energy and infrastructure”.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy subsequently said Putin’s pledge to reduce strikes was “very much at odds with reality”.
He said: “Even last night, after Putin’s conversation with … Trump, when Putin said that he was allegedly giving orders to stop strikes on Ukrainian energy, there were 150 drones launched overnight, including on energy facilities.”
Moscow also accused Ukraine of trying to attack, despite the preliminary ceasefire talks.
