CNN
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The Kremlin is keeping tight-lipped on the US peace plan, but with Ukraine signed up to the ceasefire, the pressure is now on Moscow to decide if it will also accept President Donald Trump’s proposals to bring the Ukraine war to a halt, albeit a temporary one.
On his daily media call, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, refused to be drawn on the issue, saying that the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz are first expected to brief Moscow about the terms of the ceasefire, which were set out at US Ukrainian talks in Saudi Arabia earlier this week.
“Rubio and Walz stated that they would provide us with detailed information about the essence of the conversations that took place in Jeddah through various diplomatic channels. First, we must receive this information. We also have contacts with the Americans planned for these days, during which we expect to have complete information,” Peskov told reporters.
For Moscow, this is fast becoming a pivotal moment of truth and one which may require awkward compromises if it is serious about peace.
The Kremlin has long claimed to be open to negotiations to end the conflict, while always insisting it must achieve its ambitious war aims, such as securing control over all annexed areas of Ukraine.
Only last week, Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin strongman who launched this brutal war three years ago, vowed to a group of tearful widows and mothers of killed Russian soldiers, that Moscow would never “give in.”
Most Russians, fatigued by the conflict and anxious about its dire economic impact, may be keen to see the fight end, which could result in biting sanctions being eased. But pro-war Russian hardliners, at times encouraged by the Kremlin, will see any early ceasefire as a betrayal.
But a climbdown of some sort may be inevitable.
Even if Russian negotiators can impose their own conditions on the ceasefire – a Ukrainian withdrawal from Kursk, for example, the small pocket of Russia captured by Ukraine, where fighting is now raging – it is hard to imagine that its greater territorial demands, yet alone the goal of removing NATO from its western flank, would be met.
Likewise, there may some acceptance of any Russian calls for limitations on Ukrainian long-range weaponry. But as this stage, demands for the demilitarization of Ukraine, a stated Russian war aim, are likely to be seen as a step too far.
The Kremlin’s response is also a moment of truth for the oddly warm Putin-Trump relationship.
For weeks, Russians have reveled, gleefully, in America’s apparent shift in their favor, a move that has bewildered Washington’s traditional Western allies.
The two countries are engaged in significant talks aimed at rebuilding economic and diplomatic ties, most recently an agreement was reached between the CIA and the Russian foreign intelligence service, the SVR, to reduce confrontation between Moscow and Washington, according to an SVR statement.
Even Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov – until recently a harsh critic of Washington – has welcomed the fresh US stance toward Moscow.
“I think what is going on in the United States is a return to normalcy,” he told US bloggers when asked whether the US had changed since Trump’s second inauguration.
But in exchange for all the courting, concessions and praise, Trump may now expect the Kremlin leader to play ball – or risk his wrath.
Indeed, “the ball is now in their court,” is precisely what US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of the Russians after his talks with Ukrainian officials concluded in Jeddah. On Wednesday, the top US diplomat suggested that Moscow is “probably processing” the news of the temporary truce “the same as the rest of the world.”
Trump, of course, prefers a poker metaphor.
Just days ago, Trump claimed “Russia holds all the cards.” Now, intentionally or not, he may have called Putin’s bluff.
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and Anna Chernova contributed to this report.