Putin frankly admitted to China that he is ready to fight in Ukraine for another 5 years.
As early as March 23, the Kremlin admitted to its "closest ally" China that they would not be able to capture Ukraine so easily, so a new plan was needed.
How Russia persuaded China to believe in the victory of the Russian Federation and what trap the dictator has already prepared for Ukraine - in an exclusive TSN.ua article.
March of the 23rd year. Chinese President Xi Jinping has made a ceremonial arrival in Moscow. In the Russian capital, he was met almost royally - a military band, fanfare and blocked streets. In Moscow, they even put up big boards in Chinese so that "elder brother feels at home."
Russian propaganda tried to sell this visit as expensive as possible to its people and actively "shared the skin of an unkilled bear", talking about the "New Measure" that was about to come.
Did Putin beg Xi to "believe" him?
In fact, everything was not so good for Putin. As Nikkei Asia writes, citing its own sources, in March 23, Putin literally persuaded Xi to believe in a Russian victory. But there was a nuance - instead of "Kyiv in three days" he already said: "I will fight for at least another 5 years."
Apparently, this was Putin's way of summarizing for Xi the situation, which was unfavorable for Russia at the time, and reassuring the Chinese leader that Russia would ultimately emerge victorious. The likely argument was that a protracted war would benefit China's well-armed partner (Russia).
According to journalists, this information once again proves that Putin is not going to make any concessions or a truce, but only pretends that he wants peace. Most likely, in this way, Putin is once again trying to confuse the eyes of the West, as well as to approach the elections in the image of a "peacemaker". This is hinted at by the latest opinion polls, in which a third of Russians openly support the end of the so-called SVO. Elections in Russia are a fiction, but Putin still cannot live in a complete vacuum and actively pretends to care about the people.
Is the New York Times playing along with the Kremlin?
The authors of Nikkei Asia are also sure that the recent New York Times article is a complete delusion. We will remind you that not so long ago this well-known American newspaper published an article about how Putin sends hidden "peaceful" signals to the West and is ready to stop the war even now, but already on the new demarcation line.
For this, they even took a comment from Putin's spokesman Peskov, although he rarely speaks to foreign publications. In Ukraine, this Kremlin trick was exposed instantly. The fact is that the authors of the article, including a Russian, worked in Moscow for a long time. The Center for Combating Disinformation exposed journalists for working on an information subpoena that benefits the Kremlin.
The "signal" of the Russian Federation may actually be made to prevent further military aid to the Armed Forces from the West, and also be an attempt to add ratings to Trump, who is ready to "give" part of the Ukrainian territory to Putin. It should not be forgotten that Russia is playing "peace", investing more and more in the military industry and building up a personnel army. This, of course, is not mentioned in the article. And to write this text, the Russian Federation used American journalists recruited during their work in Russia," the Center for Combating Disinformation reported.
The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council reacted sharply to such "custom" material. Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov put all the dots above the "i" and told Putin's real plan.
"Putin or his entourage make these statements in order to reduce support for our country. They launch these fakes that they are ready for negotiations. But you clearly know the position of our president: there are 10 points of Volodymyr Zelenskyi's Peace Formula. Read carefully, everything is written there. Because the negotiations offered by the Russian Federation are quite simple - it is our capitulation. We cannot afford to capitulate to a country that started destroying us on February 24, 2022," Danilov explained.
But that's not all. On December 28, the same New York Times published a new, no less scandalous article. Serzh Shmeman, a member of the editorial board of the newspaper and the author of this publication, claims that it is better for Ukraine to give up the territories than to continue the struggle. He does not deny that this could be Putin's trap, but, he says, the so-called "peaceful messages" cannot be ignored.
"If Mr. Putin turns out to be serious [in his intentions to make peace], Ukraine should not lose the opportunity to stop the bloodshed. Conquered territory is not the only indicator of victory in this war," said Serge Shmeman.
The Kremlin shakes the West and Ukraine, but there is a “but”
Moscow is conducting a serious operation of psychological influence on the West and, above all, against Ukraine. Fiona Gill, ex-director of Russia at the US National Security Council, stated this in an interview with Voice of America. The occupiers mercilessly grasped the topic of the allegedly unsuccessful counteroffensive of the Armed Forces and are trying to sell it to Western consumers.
"Just now, during our conversation, Moscow is conducting an operation of psychological influence. You know those Soviet technologies - weaken the enemy before actually defeating him on the battlefield itself. They need to make the opponent "feel" defeated, to think that he has already been defeated, and this is exactly what Putin is doing now, provoking discussions in the West. Ukraine must continue to demonstrate a united front. And we should do it too. What we are striving for is a united European and Atlantic front in support of Ukraine," said Fiona Gill.
The American former intelligence officer believes that Ukraine will still have a chance to show its power. The success that Ukraine already has is amazing, and failures at the front can always be corrected. Both Russia and Ukraine are learning from their mistakes.
"Yes, on the battlefield, everything did not go as everyone would have liked. I mean the situation surrounding the counteroffensive from the point of view of Ukrainians. But that doesn't mean it's over. Perhaps more and more people will talk about Ukraine in a negative sense - that Ukraine will lose or that we will not see an absolute victory. Putin is trying to play games with our minds. And that is why it is extremely important for us not to talk about this war as he did. We need to fight back against all those in Europe and other parts of the world who say "it's over". It is definitely not the end yet," she stressed.
