Oleg Zhdanov: Russia will talk about negotiations and a truce, but this is a trap

According to the expert, in this way, the Russian Federation is looking for a way of respite to regroup its troops and pull up reserves.

Vladimir Putin badly needs a pause on the battlefield. He will try to achieve it through fake negotiation readiness and calls for a truce.

As military expert Oleg Zhdanov stated in an interview with Obozrevatel, Putin’s army uses the pause to regroup troops, pull up reserves, and to form a 500,000-strong group. He can collect about 260-270 thousand only thanks to conscripts. In the spring, according to Zhdanov, Putin may send two more conscriptions to this group on the territory of Ukraine or transfer them somewhere to the border – for example, in Belarus, Kursk, Bryansk or Belgorod regions.

“But he needs a pause. By the way, most likely, Putin is doing this right now, because there is information that a confrontation on the battlefield with increased hostilities may mark the coming weeks. We are seeing such a trend. On February 22, Putin addressed the Federal Assembly, and on February 24, the anniversary of the invasion, Putin demanded a meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine. Most likely, a Russian representative will come to this council demanding an immediate temporary ceasefire and the start of a negotiation process. This will be Putin’s attempt to get a breather in this war,” noted the expert.

However, Zhdanov hopes that no one will fall for this trap. The only hope is the US, which has the right to veto. Even the position of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has changed on this because the other day, he said that the negotiation process to resolve the war could only be based on the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine.

“I hope they will tell the Russian representative: okay, okay, withdraw troops from the territory of Ukraine, including from Crimea, because Crimea is Ukraine following international standards – then so, ceasefire, and we sit down at the negotiating table,” said Zhdanov.