Putin expects concessions from Trump on Ukraine – Bloomberg

The unnamed sources in Moscow said that the Kremlin leader understands that Trump is the best chance to end the war through diplomacy.

Also, according to Bloomberg's interlocutors, Russia is allegedly not worried about Trump's threats to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil in the event of the lack of progress on the ceasefire.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that his country would “prefer to continue certain mutual efforts to search for a settlement.”

“Everyone would prefer not to fight, but to talk, and not only to talk but to be heard, this is what we have with the current American administration,” he said.

Bloomberg reminds that the Kremlin expects new concessions from the United States - easing of sanctions and stopping arms supplies to Ukraine. For a ceasefire with Ukraine in the Black Sea, Russia demands that one of the largest state-owned banks be reconnected to the SWIFT international information exchange system.

Although Trump has already made concessions to many of Russia's demands, agreeing to all of Putin's conditions risks exposing the US president to accusations of weakness, Bloomberg writes. Nevertheless, he made ending the war one of his main campaign promises.

Russia's demands

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said recently that his country allegedly “cannot accept” the US proposals to end the war against Ukraine.

The official complained that such proposals “do not solve the problems associated with the root cause of the conflict.”

Russian president Vladimir Putin refuses to even cease fire in the Black Sea without conditions. In particular, he wanted Russians to inspect Ukrainian grain carriers.