US President Donald Trump will try to make good on his promise to quickly end the conflict in Ukraine, but not at the cost of Kiev’s complete capitulation to Moscow, Dmitry Suslov, a member of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, has told RT. 

Trump, who was sworn in on Monday, has repeatedly pledged to resolve the Ukraine conflict through diplomacy, but provided few specifics, aside from wanting to arrange negotiations between Moscow and Kiev. 

Suslov, deputy director for world economy and international politics at the Moscow-based Higher School of Economics, said that “the support for Ukraine has stopped being a priority for the US.” 

“Trump’s interest is not to back Ukraine as an anti-Russian proxy, but to end the conflict as soon as possible, in order to free up resources for the fight against China,” he said. 

At the same time, Suslov noted that it is still “unlikely that the US would allow Kiev to suffer a devastating defeat or would agree to Kiev’s capitulation” because “everyone would immediately use it against Trump, painting him as weak.” 

Although the US and Russia will remain adversaries for the foreseeable future, Trump will attempt to re-establish “direct diplomacy,” Suslov predicted. “However, it is entirely unclear if the dialogue would quickly produce positive results, given that the Russian and American approaches to ending the conflict in Ukraine remain irreconcilable.” 

“There are red lines, which no side wants to walk away from,” he stressed. Trump sees Ukraine as “a country with a strong military that is closely associated with the West,” while Russia insists that Ukraine must be transformed into a neutral state with significantly reduced Armed Forces. 

“Trump is not abandoning America’s claims to global hegemony. But he is abandoning the liberal gloss that has been accompanying US politics since the end of the Cold War,” the researcher argued. “The Trump administration and Trump personally view the liberal international order and liberal concepts as something that weakens America, instead of making it stronger.” 

Under Trump’s leadership, Washington will focus on the growing confrontation with China and on asserting US dominance in the Western Hemisphere, Suslov said. He added that Trump will revive the Monroe Doctrine – the policy of forestalling non-US influence in the Americas and the Caribbean. 

Compared to his first term in office, Trump is now “more confident, collected and arrogant,” and enjoys a wider support in the Republican Party. “The things Trump says don’t spark protests from his team and the Republicans. His administration will act in unison,” Suslov said. 

In his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump warned against unnecessary wars and said that he wants to go down in history as “a peacemaker and unifier.” He reiterated that he was open to direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but provided no timetable for possible negotiations.

https://www.rt.com/news/611431-trump-ukraine-conflict-prospects/

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