Trump’s former adviser Bolton says “hasty end” to war could be capitulation to Putin
Pravda Ukraine
John Bolton, former national security adviser to US President Donald Trump, has warned against a hasty agreement to end the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Source: Bolton in an interview with Politico, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Bolton stated that a hasty deal to end the Russo-Ukrainian war “comes pretty close to surrender” to Russian ruler Vladimir Putin’s goals. He also believes that a hasty end to the Russo-Ukrainian war could quickly open the door to the US withdrawal from NATO.
Quote from Bolton: “I thought Trump would withdraw from NATO and he hasn’t done that yet, but you can hear the music begin to play. There’d be a ceasefire in place, a militarised zone would be created, negotiations would begin, Ukraine would agree not to join NATO — which is a settlement that really, they could have written in the Kremlin.”
More details: When asked how he viewed UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s words that he was ready to deploy UK troops to Ukraine to enforce the ceasefire, Bolton responded dismissively.
“I’m against deploying a peacekeeping force. Experience with the United Nations has demonstrated that once you deploy a peacekeeping force, it can become a permanent part of the landscape, and in this case amount to a de facto partition of Ukraine that could become de jure after a period of time,” he said.
Bolton also noted that he had not heard any discussions in the EU about which option for a peacekeeping force was being considered.
“Is it to enforce a ceasefire, in which case the rules of engagement would have to authorise the peacekeepers to use force to keep the cease-fire from breaking down? Or is it a UN kind of peace force, where violators get waved at by the peacekeepers as they go merrily on their way?” he asked rhetorically and stressed that these are critical differences.
Bolton argues that Europe would be better off strongly supporting Ukraine with arms and support, rather than planning future scenarios agreed between Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
Quote from Bolton: “There’s no absolute obligation to have negotiations with a cease-ceasefire. So unless you’re prepared to give up on any possibility of Ukraine getting its territory back, the idea that you’re going to freeze the existing lines of control is potentially very dangerous.”
Background:
- Bolton has already criticised Trump’s actions. On 13 February, he said that Trump’s statements about Ukraine’s potential losses before the start of negotiations with Russia meant that Trump had “effectively surrendered to Putin.”
- On 18 February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov met in Saudi Arabia with a US delegation, which was represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff.
- After the talks, the US Department of State reported that the delegates agreed to “address irritants” in bilateral relations and continue to work on preparing talks on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
- In particular, they agreed to appoint high-level groups for negotiations on Ukraine.
- On 20 February, Trump said that Russia “has the cards” in potential peace talks to end the war, as Russia has “taken a lot of territory”.
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