OPINION — “Concerning U.S. President’s proposal to declare a 30-day ceasefire, the Russian side [President Vladimir Putin] outlined a number of significant points regarding ensuring effective control over a possible ceasefire along the entire frontline, as well as the need to stop the forced mobilization in Ukraine and rearming the Armed Forces of Ukraine…It was pointed out [by Putin] that a complete cessation of providing Kiev with foreign military aid and intelligence must become the key condition for preventing an escalation of the conflict and making progress towards its resolution through political and diplomatic means.”
That was a small section from the longer Russian readout of the 90-minute telephone conversation last Tuesday between Putin and President Donald Trump.
What’s really interesting here is to compare what the Russians said was discussed and what the White House said – since no transcript is available. There are discrepancies.
For example, the White House readout of the call ignored the Russian “key conditions” for progress toward a settlement of the fighting, but rather focused on Trump’s 30-day ceasefire proposal and his suggestion for “a maritime ceasefire [between Ukraine and Russian forces] in the Black Sea.”
“Vladimir Putin responded favorably to the [ceasefire] proposal and immediately gave the relevant order to the Russian troops,” the Russian release said, adding, “Just as favorable was the Russian President’s response to Donald Trump’s suggestion to implement a well-known proposal regarding the safety of navigation in the Black Sea.”
Both readouts said that new talks would begin immediately to work out details on the ceasefire agreements – and indeed negotiators for the U.S. Ukraine and Russia have been meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia since Sunday to try to reach some limited arrangement.
Beyond Ukraine, a U.S.-Russia rapprochement
While others are focusing on the back and forth with regard to the short-term ceasefire in Ukraine, I was struck by those parallel readouts from Washington and Moscow of the Trump-Putin exchange, and what seemed to be a clear desire of both men to find a way to re-establish more normal relationships between the White House and the Kremlin.
I say that because buried in last week’s Russian release is the sentence, “The leaders expressed mutual interest in normalizing the bilateral ties in light of the special responsibility for ensuring global security and stability borne by both Russia and the United States.”
Here, the White House release reflected the same thought: “The two leaders agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside. This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved.”
Both sides mentioned the Middle East, with the Russians saying, “Joint efforts will be made to stabilize the situation in the crisis spots,” while the U.S. called it “a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts.”
In the area of strategic nuclear weapons, the U.S. said that Trump and Putin “discussed the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons and will engage with others to ensure the broadest possible application negotiations,” implying the need for China to participate. The Russian side responded saying that joint efforts would be made to “establish cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation and global security.”
The U.S. said specifically that “the two leaders shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel,” but the Russian readout had no such mention of either Iran or Israel.
The Russians described one example of the Trump administration “improving the overall ambiance of relations,” citing “the recent vote in the U.N. on a resolution on the Ukraine conflict, in which the two countries aligned their stances.” It was a reference to February 24, when the U.S. took was widely seen as a startling turn, voting against a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia as the aggressor in the war in Ukraine.
The Moscow readout also closed warmly by saying, “The leaders expressed mutual interest in normalizing the bilateral ties in light of the special responsibility for ensuring global security and stability borne by both Russia and the United States. Within that context, they [Putin and Trump] addressed a wide range of areas where the two countries could establish cooperation, discussing several ideas aimed at fostering potential ties of mutual interest in economy and energy.”
The Russians finally noted, “Donald Trump expressed support for Vladimir Putin’s idea to hold ice hockey matches in both the United States and Russia between Russian and American players from the NHL and the KHL [U.S. and Russian professional hockey leagues].”
President Trump has made clear through word and deed, in the 2024 presidential campaign and since returning to the White House, that he wants to have a U.S. rapprochement with Russia.
The intersection of technology, defense, space and intelligence is critical to future U.S. national security. Join The Cipher Brief on June 5th and 6th in Austin, Texas for the NatSecEDGE conference. Find out how to get an invitation to this invite-only event at natsecedge.com
Echoes of July 2018
There will soon be another Putin-Trump summit, perhaps announced as an outcome of the current talks in Riyadh.
I believe that what is going on today – Trump’s reshaping of U.S. policy toward Putin and Russia – began during his first administration, although we were all more focused then on his statement about the 2016 election, after the first Putin-Trump summit on July 16, 2018.
That was when Trump appeared to take Putin’s side – rather than agree with the assessment of his own intelligence services – on the question of Russian interference in the 2016 election by saying, “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”
Re-reading that 2018 transcript, you can see a seed of what is going on today.
At one point, Trump was asked who was responsible for the decline in relations between Russia and the U.S. Trump replied, “I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish…I think that the United States now has stepped forward, along with Russia, and we’re getting together and we have a chance to do some great things.”
Looking back, it seems clear that in his second term, Trump has decided to prepare the country — in his own way — for his working together with Putin.
For example, on February 11, 2025, the day before Trump’s first publicized phone call with Putin, the White House set the stage by announcing Russia’s release of Marc Fogel, a history teacher from Pennsylvania, who, in 2021, had been arrested at the Moscow airport after traveling to Russia to work at a Moscow school. Fogel had been detained for having 0.6 ounces of medically-prescribed marijuana. In 2022, Fogel was sentenced to a 14-year prison sentence.
On the afternoon of Fogel’s release, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz put out a statement saying the exchange that had led to Fogel’s release “serves as a show of good faith from the Russians,” and that he would arrive that night, February 11, “on American soil and reunited with his family and loved ones thanks to President Trump’s leadership.”
If that were not enough, Fogel was taken that very night to the White House where he was then greeted outside on the North Portico by President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, among others.
At the White House, near midnight, standing next to Trump in the Diplomatic Reception Room, Fogel told reporters and TV cameras, “I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now,” and called the President “a hero” for facilitating his return.
Looking for a way to get ahead of the week in cyber and tech? Sign up for the Cyber Initiatives Group Sunday newsletter to quickly get up to speed on the biggest cyber and tech headlines and be ready for the week ahead. Sign up today.
Gifts to Putin
Another pre-Putin-Trump phone call step took place that day at NATO headquarters in Brussels. It must be recalled that it was on February 12 that new U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shocked alliance leaders by announcing that a return “to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” and that that the U.S. “does not believe NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.”
As if that were not enough to meet Putin’s demands, Hegseth also said that if European troops “are deployed as peacekeepers to Ukraine at any point, they should be deployed as part of a non-NATO mission. And they should not be covered under Article 5 [the triggering mechanism for NATO counties].” Also, Hegseth added, “As part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine.”
Trump hailed the success of the February 12 phone call in a Truth Social message.
“I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia,” Trump wrote. “We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects. We both reflected on the Great History of our Nations, and the fact that we fought so successfully together in World War II, remembering, that Russia lost tens of millions of people, and we, likewise, lost so many! We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together.”
The Russian readout was more businesslike, saying at one point, “The leaders also discussed a possible Ukraine settlement. Donald Trump spoke in favor of stopping the hostilities as soon as possible and solving the crisis peacefully.”
On the other hand, the Russians also referred to Putin pointing out that “it was necessary to eliminate the root causes of the [Ukraine] conflict,” which has since then grown into what I opened with above – namely, the Russian President’s laundry list of demands that Ukraine probably would not nor could not accept.
Those demands reminded me of Putin’s July 2021 essay, On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians, in which he wrote, “I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia.”
President Trump seems ready to accept that future for Ukraine, in return for gaining Putin’s cooperation in developing a new world in which the U.S., Russia and apparently China will be the dominant powers.
The Cipher Brief is committed to publishing a range of perspectives on national security issues submitted by deeply experienced national security professionals.
Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of The Cipher Brief.
Have a perspective to share based on your experience in the national security field? Send it to [email protected] for publication consideration.
Read more expert-driven national security insights, perspective and analysis in The Cipher Brief
