An Imitation Peace

By Abe Greenwald

Thursday, March 13, 2025

 

There was a lot of shifting news out of Moscow today. Early in the morning, there came reports that Vladmir Putin’s foreign-policy adviser Yuri Ushakov appeared on Russian television and rejected the 30-day cease-fire proposal to which Ukraine has agreed. Ushakov called the idea “nothing more than a reprieve for the Ukrainian military” and said that “no one needs any steps that imitate peaceful actions in this situation." But he noted that he was speaking only for himself.

 

Around noon, AFP posted on social media, “Putin says ‘in favour’ of 30-day ceasefire, but there are ‘nuances.’”

 

Soon after that, we learned that Putin apparently understands the word “nuances” to mean objections. He has, as of this writing, not agreed to the immediate cease-fire on the table. Putin said that any sustained peace would have to address the “root causes” of the war. Once again translating English into Putinese, “root causes” means, among other things, Ukraine’s existence as a country separate from Russia. He also said that he didn’t want to stop fighting while Russia was making gains against Ukrainian forces holding territory in its Kursk region.

 

While no one wants to stop when he’s winning, Putin likely wouldn’t pause the war under any circumstances. He is a man born to terrorize and conquer.

 

So why all the upheaval of the past couple of weeks? Why did Donald Trump put Volodymyr Zelenskyy through the ringer with unprecedented public viciousness? Everything—the Oval Office harangue, the vaporous “mineral deal,” the praising of Putin as a beacon of common sense, the dark speculation about Zelenskyy’s future, the endless stream of insults hurled at an American ally—seems to have been pointless.

 

Zelenskyy, as nearly everyone outside of the MAGA camp understood, isn’t the obstacle to peace. The ongoing invasion of his country is.

 

But Trump doesn’t bend to reality; he bends it. And Putin’s words today have left him more than enough material to work with. Trump can pick up on the “nuances” part and downplay the fact of the rejection. Putin can then work his will on Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff to get concessions on territory and impede American arms shipments to Ukraine. In other words, he can fashion his own deal, leaving Trump and Zelenskyy to take it or leave it.

 

No one can predict how Trump would respond, but it wouldn’t be shocking if he were to accept most of Putin’s terms, talk up the development as a big win, and then pressure Ukraine once more. That’s at least what Putin expects to happen. If it does, we jump back into the anti-Zelenskyy timeline.

 

But it also wouldn’t be shocking if Trump were to take offense and give up on Russia. He doesn’t like being made to look foolish and has no misgivings about doing 180-degree turns. 

 

All we do know is that we’re witnessing precisely what Ushakov warned against. The U.S. is taking “steps that imitate peaceful actions.” The Trump administration has been pretending that Putin is someone he isn’t, that Ukraine isn’t fighting for its survival, and that bringing peace is simply a matter of getting everyone to agree to their assigned roles.

 

If they do, Donald Trump will have achieved only an imitation of success. When dictators like Putin playact at making peace, it’s only to further the aims of war.