Ready to limit its goals in Ukraine: how the Russian Federation began to play Washington and what should

According to US intelligence estimates, Putin believed that the state of war to him in favor of that he had the strength and human resources for a further war to capture all Ukraine. He has now become more prone to considering a potential peace agreement than before, because not only the internal economic difficulties in his country, but also the Trump administration, which threatens with new sanctions, press on it.

However, the US high -ranking officials remain skeptical of Putin and his repeated statements in the current negotiations that he wants a peace agreement. They believe that even if Russia agrees to the agreement, it can try to restore the war and seize most of Ukraine in the long run.

"All this depends on the fact that the US is ready to offer it not only to claim the victory within the country, but to really feel that it has achieved something that is worth a significant pause, and then perhaps to restore the struggle later," the anonymous representative of Western intelligence said.

He remembered how Putin repeatedly repeated theses of where the Russian people historically come from, and said that he had a "long -term goal" to capture more Ukraine, "at least those parts that are the cradle of Russian civilization" in his eyes. "Moscow is ready to" play "the United States and limit its immediate goals to improve its relationship with Washington, but clearly did not give up its maximalist military goals," the intelligence representative said.

The Kremlin hopes that the best relations with the United States will distract from the war, and after a tactical pause will achieve the full goals of Putin in Ukraine and abroad. "Putin's thinking has evolved. He believes that he has a favorable American president who does not understand what he is doing and is more focused on short -term victories," says Jason Crow, a member of the US House Intelligence Committee.