Putin doubles the position of war in Ukraine after a meeting in Beijing

Sometimes it is not said, which makes the most impression.

This is the reaction.

In the Russian Far East, Vladimir Putin conveyed a warning to the west: don’t even think about sending soldiers – and this includes peacemakers – to Ukraine.

“If some troops appear there,” the Russian president said, “especially now, as the fighting continues, we continue from the assumption that these will be legitimate goals for destruction.”

Then the reaction.

The audience at the Vladivostok Economic Forum erupted in applause, with Russian officials and business leaders apparently welcoming the threat of “destroying” Western troops.

Watching the scene in the hall, I found the applause for quite freezing.

And it came only a day after the allies of Kiev, the so -called coalition of desire, promised a post -war “power for comfort” for Ukraine.

The audience again applauded when the Kremlin leader suggested that he would be ready to meet with the President of Ukraine Volodimir Zelenski – but only on home land.

“The best place for this is the Russian capital, in the city town of Moscow,” Putin said.

Outside Russia, Putin’s proposal has been rejected as a frivolous, complete non-Starter. Case of political trolling.

But in many ways, it covers the current position of the Kremlin for the war in Ukraine: “Yes, we want peace, but only under our conditions. You reject our conditions? Then there is no peace.”

This uncompromising position is fed by a combination of factors.

First, from the Kremlin’s belief that in Ukraine, Russian forces have the initiative on the battlefield.

Second, through diplomatic success. In China this week, Putin shakes off and shared smiles with a series of world leaders. The optics were to demonstrate that Russia has powerful friends such as China, India and North Korea.

And then it’s America. Last month, US President Donald Trump invited Putin to Alaska at a summit. Returning to home commentators of the Kremlin, they welcomed the event as proof that Western efforts to isolate Russia during the war in Ukraine fail.

To persuade the Kremlin to end the fight with Trump has previously set ultimatums and deadlines; He threatened more sanctions if Russia would not make peace.

But Trump did not follow his threats – and this is another reason for Russia’s confidence.

Putin publicly praised Trump’s peaceful effort. Nevertheless, he rejected the proposals for the cessation of Trump’s fire and did not show a desire to make concessions on the war in Ukraine.

So where does the prospect of peace leave?

Putin said recently that he could see “light at the end of the tunnel.”

It seems to me that at the moment Russia on the one hand, and Ukraine and Europe (and to some extent America) on the other are in different tunnels, on different roads, with different destinations.

Ukraine and Europe are focused on ending the fighting, forming the guarantees of Kiev’s security and making sure that the Ukrainian army is strong enough after the war to prevent another invasion.

When Putin talks about “light at the end of the tunnel”, I believe that he imagines a path that leads to a Russian victory in Ukraine and wider, to the construction of a new global order that benefits Russia.

In terms of peace, it is difficult to see where and when these two very different highways will get closer.