\n<\/p>\n
As recently as January, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia emphatically rejected the idea of a temporary cease-fire in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
But after a month in which President Trump turned American foreign policy on its head and Russian forces made progress in a key battle, the Kremlin now appears keen at least to entertain the 30-day cease-fire proposal<\/a> made by Ukraine and the United States on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Dmitri S. Peskov, Mr. Putin\u2019s spokesman, told reporters on Wednesday that the Kremlin was \u201ccarefully studying\u201d the outcome of Tuesday\u2019s talks between the United States and Ukraine, and their call for a monthlong cease-fire.<\/p>\n He said he expected the United States to inform Russia in the coming days of \u201cthe details of the negotiations that took place and the understandings that were reached.\u201d He raised the possibility of another phone call between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump, signaling that the Kremlin saw the cease-fire proposal as just a part of a broader flurry of diplomacy.<\/p>\n Late Wednesday, Mr. Putin sought to show he was in control of events by donning military fatigues and holding a televised meeting with his top military officials charged with pushing Ukraine out of Russia\u2019s Kursk region, where Russia has made progress in recent weeks. He directed his troops to defeat Ukraine in the region \u201cin the shortest possible time,\u201d a move that, if successful, would deny Ukraine a key point of leverage in any negotiations with Russia.<\/p>\n Mr. Putin has seen a dizzying reversal in his geopolitical fortunes over the last month as Mr. Trump realigned American foreign policy in Russia\u2019s favor, antagonized U.S. allies and excoriated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine at the White House.<\/p>\n But the emergence of a joint cease-fire proposal from the United States and Ukraine complicates things for Mr. Putin. It deepens the tension between his desires for a far-reaching victory in Ukraine and for close ties with Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n While Mr. Trump says he wants to end the war as soon as possible, Mr. Putin has signaled he will not stop fighting until he extracts major concessions from the West and from Kyiv, including a pledge that Ukraine will not join NATO and that the alliance will reduce its presence in Central and Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n On Jan. 20, when he congratulated Mr. Trump on his inauguration, Mr. Putin made clear that the goal of any Ukraine talks must \u201cnot be a short cease-fire, not some kind of respite.\u201d Russia, he said, sought \u201ca long-term peace based on respect for the legitimate interests of all people, all nations who live in this region.\u201d<\/p>\n Analysts say Mr. Putin\u2019s opposition to a temporary cease-fire stemmed from the simple calculation that with Russian forces gaining on the battlefield, Moscow would only give up its leverage by stopping the fighting without winning concessions.<\/p>\n But a Feb. 12 phone call between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump, and the White House\u2019s subsequent alignment with Russia at the United Nations and elsewhere, may have affected Mr. Putin\u2019s calculus by making him more eager to stay on Mr. Trump\u2019s good side, analysts say.<\/p>\n That sets up a delicate balancing act for the Kremlin.<\/p>\n Ilya Grashchenkov, a political analyst in Moscow, said the Kremlin could be tempted to accept a truce that would be \u201ctactically unfavorable but strategically favorable\u201d in order to \u201cshow that it\u2019s a peacemaker.\u201d<\/p>\n While Russians were not present at Tuesday\u2019s talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Trump administration has kept up its engagement with the Kremlin. John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Naryshkin, on Tuesday, Russia\u2019s foreign intelligence agency said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Steve Witkoff, the envoy for Mr. Trump who met with Mr. Putin for several hours last month, plans to return to Russia in the coming days<\/a>, according to two people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss internal plans. Mr. Trump on Tuesday said that he thought he would speak with Mr. Putin this week, and he told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that his negotiators were en route. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople are going to Russia right now as we speak,\u201d Mr. Trump said during a meeting with Ireland\u2019s prime minister. \u201cAnd hopefully we can get a cease-fire from Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n In a sign of Moscow\u2019s continuing charm offensive directed at the Trump camp, Russia\u2019s foreign ministry released a 90-minute interview on Wednesday that the foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, gave to three American video bloggers, including the former Fox News personality Andrew Napolitano.<\/p>\n Mr. Lavrov, speaking English, praised the Trump administration for reversing the Democrats\u2019 \u201cdeparture from Christian values\u201d and said Russia was ready for the \u201cnormal relations\u201d that the United States was offering.<\/p>\n \u201cIt certainly is not impossible that the Russians would accept this,\u201d Samuel Charap, a Russia analyst at the RAND Corporation, said of the 30-day offer. \u201cNot because they want an unconditional, temporary cease-fire, but because they now have a stake in relations with Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Putin\u2019s calculus could also be affected by Russia\u2019s progress in recent days in pushing Ukrainian troops out of Kursk<\/a>, the Russian border region where Ukraine occupied several hundred square miles of territory in a surprise incursion last August.<\/p>\n Mr. Zelensky had said he planned to use that land as a bargaining chip in future talks, but the Kremlin signaled that it would refuse to negotiate so long as Ukraine held the territory.<\/p>\n With the Kursk region mostly back in Russian hands, Mr. Putin no longer risks losing face by agreeing to a cease-fire that would leave Ukraine in control of an area of Russian territory, said Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst in Moscow.<\/p>\n A further incentive to agree, Mr. Markov said, was to make sure that Russia \u201cdoesn\u2019t look like a war maniac\u201d in the eyes of non-Western countries that have avoided imposing sanctions on Moscow. But, he said, he expected Mr. Putin to insist on preconditions, such as a halt on weapons supplies to Ukraine for the duration of the cease-fire.<\/p>\n \u201cRussia will very likely say, \u2018Yes, but \u2014,\u2019\u201d Mr. Markov said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s popular pro-war bloggers on Wednesday did not display much enthusiasm for a cease-fire. Some of them expressed concern that a truce could eventually lead to a broader deal with the United States that, in their view, would betray the original goals of the war and eventually lead to a Russian withdrawal from Ukraine.<\/p>\n One blogger, who goes by the name Alex Parker Returns, argued in a post on Wednesday<\/a> that a peace deal would allow Ukraine \u201cto get off easily and get ready for the next round.\u201d<\/p>\n Ivan Nechepurenko contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n