The US is playing a game with Russia that is hidden from the world
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that talks with Moscow on a ceasefire and peace talks in Ukraine cannot drag on indefinitely because the time to achieve a result is coming to an end. But is there a red line for American patience? Only the very lukewarm US condemnation of the Russian missile attack on Kryvyi Rih says something.
The United States is rather playing a game with Russia, the details of which are hidden. Nevertheless, the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriyev in Washington last week gave some indication. The Americans must have cared a lot about him when they removed him from the US sanctions list.
Dmitriyev met with Rubio and US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff. "Meaningful progress" on the ceasefire was supposed to be achieved, and further US-Russian talks are to continue this week. There was also business: potential joint investments in rare earth mining and the development of economic cooperation in the Arctic. Europeans must pay attention when Dmitriev said that American companies are ready to fill the gaps left by European companies that have left Russia.
This comes at a time when Trump has launched a tariff war against European allies. He is telling them that they have not been fair in trade and with America, but now it is over and "they have to pay a lot of money". Vice President J.D. Vance added to his list by stating that the biggest threat to Europe is not Russia and China, but its internal problems.
Europe is thus forced to "fight" on two fronts. It wants to continue helping Ukraine on the platform of a "coalition of the willing", but its hands are tied by deepening disagreements with the US and the negative impacts on the economy and politics. Its room for maneuver is also narrowed by the decision that US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegset, or other US representatives, will not participate in the April meeting of the Contact Meeting for the Defense of Ukraine, known as the "Ramstein Group". Arming Ukraine is no longer a priority for the Americans.
On the contrary, the goal is to reach an unequal "minerals agreement" with Ukraine, which means that the US will gain control over its mining and most of the country's economic infrastructure. Trump sees it as a form of debt repayment for US aid. Ukrainians are reluctant to sign the agreement in its proposed form, and it is not certain whether it will hold up. It is clear that it would put a cross on Ukraine's efforts to join the EU.
Against the backdrop of the most serious upheavals in the transatlantic alliance since the end of the Cold War, Europeans and Ukrainians are finding themselves in an unenviable situation: they cannot be at all sure of Washington's policy and at the same time they are dependent on what the White House and the Kremlin agree on.
Miloš Balabán, Právo Daily