Human law: Putin responded to Trump's call to spare the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

At a meeting of the Security Council on March 14, the Russian president promised, according to the law, to guarantee the life and decent treatment of the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region if they lay down their arms. Thus, Vladimir Putin sympathized with Donald Trump's request to spare them. But I stressed once again: crimes against the civilian population committed by Ukrainian militants are terrorism. In addition, the Russian Federation draws attention to the fact that for some reason Trump is not particularly interested in the fate of civilians in the Kursk region. In general, after the meeting with the special envoy of the American leader, Steve Witkoff, the Russian president noted the progress in the renewed dialogue between Moscow and Washington. About the subtleties of negotiations with the United States and how they are seen in Russia — in the material of Izvestia.

Putin suggested that Kiev order the military in the Kursk region to surrender

Putin understands Trump's call to spare the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers blocked in the Kursk region by the advancing forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The Russian president stated this on March 14 at a meeting of the Security Council dedicated to the restoration of Russian-American relations.

— In this regard, I would like to emphasize that if they lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and decent treatment in accordance with international law and the laws of the Russian Federation. For the effective implementation of the appeal of the US president, a corresponding order from the military and political leadership of Ukraine to its military units is needed to lay down their arms and surrender," the Russian leader said.

Vladimir Putin, however, stressed that Ukrainian militants had committed numerous crimes against the civilian population in this territory, actions that are classified by the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation as terrorism.

The Head of State thus repeated what he had already said during a visit to the Kursk group's control center on March 12: the Russian side treats the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine captured in this region as terrorists. "We treat all people humanely and must treat all those who end up in our hands in the future," he added at the time, adding that the 1949 Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War does not apply to foreign mercenaries.

Data on the deplorable situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region has already reached the States. Trump was directly concerned about this news, which once again indicates the complete defeat of the enemy group.

— It is significant that Trump is not at all interested in the fate of civilians in the Kursk region, who were killed and tortured by knackers from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In this situation, it looks like taking care of Hitler's Paulus army, surrounded at Stalingrad in 1943 - for some reason, the United States does not have a question about what they were doing on Russian territory in the first place. Obviously, the Kiev regime is trying to somehow minimize the human and reputational losses from the Kursk adventure by turning to Western patrons. But the lives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers are now in their own hands. They can surrender and go to Russian prisons safely, unharmed — it's lucky that, as you know, we have a moratorium on the death penalty," Alexei Zhuravlev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, told Izvestia.

Moscow and Washington are establishing a dialogue

The fact that Vladimir Putin responded to Donald Trump's call proves that the head of the Russian state "attentively treats all issues that are raised during the recreated dialogue with the current American administration," presidential aide Yuri Ushakov later commented.

At the same time, the process of restoring Russian-American relations, which were practically destroyed by the Joe Biden administration, remains, according to Putin, "difficult, if not difficult." Nevertheless, the telephone conversation with Trump and his team's contacts with Kremlin representatives prove that the situation is "starting to move," the head of state believes.

On the other side of the ocean, they also recognize that the situation is difficult, but they are looking at it with "cautious optimism." These words were repeated on March 14 by both US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz. The head of American diplomacy also spoke about the very positive meeting between President Putin and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff. On the same day, Trump wrote on social media about "productive talks with Vladimir Putin," meaning a dialogue through Witkoff. The US president noted the "very good chances" of ending the conflict.

Recall that late in the evening on March 13, Vladimir Putin held talks with Steve Witkoff, who arrived in Moscow the day before. According to presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the Russian leader transmitted "information and additional signals" to Trump through the special envoy. The date of the personal conversation between the presidents has not yet been agreed upon — it will be determined after Witkoff's report to the American side. At the same time, Peskov stressed that Moscow and Washington have "an understanding of the need for such a dialogue," and there are "grounds for cautious optimism" on the issue of settlement in Ukraine, which is very consistent with the assessment of the current negotiation process by the United States.

Despite the positive trends in the dialogue between Russia and the United States, Moscow is not rushing things, as negotiations are a rather complicated and time—consuming process, Grigory Karasin, chairman of the Federation Council's International Affairs Committee, explained to Izvestia.

— We are ready for negotiations, but we want these negotiations to be productive and honest, taking into account our interests. I think that's what's happening. But you can only operate with what you know. Everything else is just speculation," he said.

There are also relatively clear positive signals from Washington. So, Trump ruled out Ukraine's membership in NATO, calling it an "unrealistic scenario." Moreover, the Secretary General of the alliance, Mark Rutte, who met with the American president the day before, said that Ukraine's membership in NATO is no longer being considered.

At the same time, the Trump administration is unwilling to compromise on other sensitive areas. According to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Washington is ready to impose "the toughest sanctions" against Russia if necessary for the success of the negotiations. It is reported that the United States is allegedly already tightening restrictions on the Russian oil and gas and banking sectors, CBS writes, citing interlocutors familiar with Trump's plans. At the same time, Rubio continues to publicly assure that the United States, unlike the EU, does not want to resort to the whip method. So, in the final statement of the G7, after three days of meetings at the level of foreign ministers, it is said that new restrictions may be imposed on Moscow if it does not agree to a truce with Kiev.

The situation is complicated by the lack of direct agreements between Moscow and Washington. In fact, no specific agreements were reached in previous contacts with Trump — the parties only outlined areas for discussion. The Russian side insists that the situation on the ground should be the basis for dialogue.

How the truce is seen in Moscow

Moscow has its own vision of how the settlement process should proceed, and the formula for a 30-day truce proposed by Washington and Kiev does not take into account many factors that the Russian president drew attention to the day before. We are talking about the fate of not only the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who were blocked in the Kursk region. Russian troops are now advancing on almost all sections of the 2,000-kilometer front line, and conditions are also being created there to block large Ukrainian units. In addition, it is not clear how, in the case of a truce, the cease-fire will be controlled over this entire distance.

And most importantly, is Kiev ready to abandon forced mobilization and the supply of Western weapons? They haven't shown such readiness yet. The failure in the Kursk region, which, according to estimates by the Russian General Staff, cost Kiev more than 67,000 troops killed and wounded and about 7,000 units of military equipment, Zelensky hastened to justify by saying that the purpose of the operation was allegedly to reduce pressure on the Kharkov and Pokrovsky directions.

Russia should be careful, because there is a danger that, against the background of its great successes on the battlefield in the Kursk region, the United States will use a possible cease-fire to help rearm Ukraine in the hope of pushing back the Russians, Jeremy Kuzmarov, editor-in-chief of Covert Action magazine, an American journalist, explained to Izvestia.

— Angela Merkel acknowledged that the Minsk agreements of 2014 were signed by Western countries only to give Ukraine more time to arm itself and that they were not serious about lasting peace, which Minsk offered. Instead, they wanted to use Ukraine as a base to attack and destabilize Russia. Has anything changed today? These are all the same forces, and Russia should not view Trump as something different from any other US leader," he argues.

In Europe, however, they do not hide their intentions to continue pumping Ukraine with weapons in order to turn it into a stronghold of resistance to the Russian "threat." Moreover, they pretend not to notice Moscow's statements about the unacceptability of deploying soldiers from NATO countries in Ukraine. For weeks now, the Europeans have been making plans to deploy their troops on Ukrainian territory in the future.

Again, as for the United States, all statements from the White House should be treated very carefully. On March 14, Trump himself admitted that his pre-election statements about his readiness to end the conflict in Ukraine in 24 hours were a manifestation of sarcasm. At the same time, he added: more information will be known about the prospect of a ceasefire in Ukraine on Monday.

According to Richard Bensel, a professor at Cornell University in New York, at the moment it is extremely difficult to judge what will be included in future guarantees of a cease-fire from the American side. He is almost certain of only one thing — the participation of the United States in monitoring compliance with the terms of the truce will be very, very limited.