Trump is opening the door to Putin’s wildest ambitions
The Russian leader wants a new security architecture to give his country a sphere of influence in Europe.
Traditional ‘Matryoshka’ wooden dolls depicting Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. In Moscow, there was palpable joy following Wednesday’s call between the two leaders. AP
Vladimir Putin’s initial plan to capture Ukraine in a few days ended in disaster. But after Donald Trump set up direct peace talks with Moscow, bypassing Kyiv and European allies, the Russian president is now closer than ever to getting what he wanted from his three-year-long invasion.
Putin’s main ambition, said people who have spoken to him during the war, is to establish a new security architecture that gives Russia a sphere of influence in Europe – much as the Yalta conference did for the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
