Arya News - As Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly proposed renewed peace talks with Ukraine to be held in Istanbul on May 15, accompanied by an expressed willingness to negotiate without preconditions, a former senior US security analyst has offered a stark assessment of the political pressure facing Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Zelensky will reject Putin’s proposal in order to stay alive,” warned Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst at the Pentagon, in a blunt analysis of the Ukrainian leader’s predicament.Moscow’s latest offer comes in the wake of what it claims were several attacks by Ukrainian forces even during Russia’s proposed Victory Day ceasefire. Despite these incidents, Putin has insisted that Russia remains open to talks aimed at achieving a lasting peace and addressing the root causes of the conflict.“Putin has basically put Zelensky in a really tight position. Between that proverbial rock and hard place,” Maloof stressed.Moscow’s proposal has stirred debate globally, particularly in Europe, where the political appetite for reconciliation with Russia remains minimal. Maloof was sharply critical of the European approach, describing it as counterproductive and self-destructive.He argued that despite thousands of sanctions, Russia’s economy has adapted: “I think Russia is basically immune now because... they’ve had over 20,000 sanctions already imposed. And yet they want to impose some more that are not working.”According to Maloof, Western policies have backfired, particularly on energy: “And this is where the Europeans are just absolutely nuts... that if they wanted to impose sanctions that would go after the oil deliveries by Russia, that will automatically, literally overnight, raise the prices that would actually benefit Russia and hurt the Europeans.”He did not hold back in his criticism: “They just want to continue a conflict with Russia that, frankly, particularly the UK, that has been going on for almost 250 years. Their antagonism toward Russia is historic.”Maloof pointed to recent international events to underscore Russia’s continued global standing: “If they thought that their new sanctions were going to isolate Russia, I think the Victory Day parade demonstrated, as well as the BRICS conference last October in Kazan, demonstrated that Russia is not isolated. In fact, it has drawn the support and the backing of more than half the people world, from the global south, all of Asia.”As the proposed date for talks nears, all eyes will be on Kiev and its Western allies, whose response—or silence—may define the next stage of the war.