Russia Is Openly Mocking President Trump’s Ukraine War 50-Day Ultimatum

In the middle of July, US President Donald Trump gave the Kremlin an ultimatum: agree to a peaceful cessation to the war in Ukraine in 50 days or face the prospect of Washington imposing 100 percent tariffs on Russia, plus secondary sanctions on Russian trading partners who are purchasing Russian products, most particularly oil and gas.

From the get-go, the clear message from Moscow was “we are not taking Trump’s demand seriously.

Rather than developing a plan for scaling down military operations and pulling his troops back to defensible positions, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian officials have taken the American president’s dictated timeline as a “green light” to escalate Moscow’s brutal bombardments of Ukrainian cities.

Putin Takes His 50-Day Grace Period in Ukraine…

Not only is the threat of further sanctions not being taken seriously, but senior voices in the Russian capital are openly discussing how these 50 days should be used to optimize Russia’s position.

“In 50 days, oh, how much can change, both on the battlefield and in the mood of those in power in the US and NATO,” said one Russian senator who is a regular propaganda outlet at international events, Konstantin Kosachev, on social media.

His view reflects the cynical approach by Moscow that they can stay in the conflict for the long haul and the West’s resolve will falter long before they would ever consider giving up.

“Our mood will not be affected,” he said on one of his social media platforms.

Sticks and Stones May Break Our Bones, But Sanctions Will Never Hurt Us

Russian officials also continue to take credit for their ingenuity in circumventing Western sanctions.

Thus, they do not take the prospect of Trump’s promised secondary tariffs seriously.

Last Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Russia would be able to cope with further sanctions should Trump follow through on his threats.

“We already have an unprecedented number of sanctions against us. We are coping and I have no doubt that we will cope,” Lavrov said in a news conference.

Trump’s promise to now significantly increase the delivery of advanced weapons to Ukraine has also been laughed off as more toothless measures by Washington.

“Trump has now followed in the footsteps of [former US President] Joseph Biden and is promising weapons to Ukraine in order to bring Moscow to the negotiating table,” said Olga Skabeyeva, a prominent pro-Kremlin TV program host.

“Biden was doing this for the last three and a half years. But as we know, he had no success,” she scoffed.

Peace Negotiations Almost Never Got Started

These remarks from Russian officials occurred shortly after Trump announced his new policy on supporting Ukraine during a Bastille Day meeting in the Oval Office with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

However, there are even more recent comments that show Moscow thinks they can call Trump’s bluff and nothing serious will happen to them.

Ukraine and Russia met on Wednesday in Istanbul for what were being described as the “third round” of negotiations on a possible ceasefire agreement.

The discussions ended in under an hour, with no progress towards a cessation of hostilities.

Ukraine’s former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov led Kyiv’s delegation to the talks and said he had proposed a summit by the end of August between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Before these talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had reiterated a call for a direct meeting with Putin, stating that only a meeting of the two leaders can end the war.

Umerov also told foreign media that Ukraine was seeking a “full and unconditional ceasefire as a necessary basis for effective diplomacy.”

Still, Russia instead called for a series of short ceasefires of between 24 and 48 hours, in front-line areas, to allow medical teams to pick up dead and wounded soldiers.

Last month, Russian casualties hit a predicted milestone, fulfilling a previous UK Ministry of Defence estimate that Putin’s war had cost him more than 1 million casualties since the initial invasion in February 2022.

Russia Won’t Back Down 

The Russian President has consistently held two positions.

One is to refuse to take the financial and economic sanctions from the US seriously.

The other option is to continue maintaining a set of maximalist demands that would amount to Ukraine declaring unconditional surrender.

In the meantime, his soldiers are dying by the thousands every day.

In April, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, told the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, “If you want the killing to stop, you should put the pressure on Russia, who actually does the killing.”

The appropriate level of pressure has not yet been reached.

About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson

Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.

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