Rosenberg: Trump-Putin call seen as victory in Russia

Russian media were buoyant after Putin's call with Trump

Judging by some of the headlines today in Russia, Moscow believes that the latest telephone conversation between Presidents Putin and Trump went well - certainly for the Kremlin.

"Putin and Trump agreed to work together on Ukraine resolution," concludes Izvestia.

"Record-long Putin-Trump call," declares Komsomolskaya Pravda. The paper's website adds: "As things stand Russia has scored a diplomatic victory here."

Why are some in Russia claiming "victory" after this two-hour phone call?

Probably because, by the end of it, Vladimir Putin hadn't been pressured into making any major concessions to Ukraine or to the United States. On the contrary, he had - in effect - rejected President Trump's idea of an immediate unconditional 30-day ceasefire.

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Instead of pressuring Moscow with the threat of even tougher sanctions and penalties, to get Russia to sign up to its plan, the US administration reacted by praising the Kremlin leader.

"We had a great call," Donald Trump told Fox News.

"I would commend President Putin for all he did today on that call to move his country close to a final peace deal," said Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff.

Putin rejected the unconditional ceasefire and set out his own aims during the call with Trump

Not only did Moscow not agree to an unconditional ceasefire, President Putin set his own pre-conditions for peace.

They include an end to Western military aid to Kyiv and intelligence sharing with the Ukrainians, as well as a halt to mobilisation in Ukraine. Such conditions are widely viewed as a way of securing Ukraine's capitulation.

It's hard to see Kyiv agreeing to any of that.

But could the Trump administration eventually be persuaded, by Moscow, that such conditions are acceptable? And if so, would Washington force Ukraine to accept them?

Much may depend on whether the Kremlin can convince President Trump he has more to gain from developing good ties with Moscow than by defending Ukraine's corner.

As if to press home the point, in their conversations with the Americans, Russian officials are already dangling various economic and financial carrots and talking about how mutually beneficial the Russia-US relationship could be if the two countries can re-energise bilateral relations and get to work on joint projects.

Vladimir Putin recently raised the prospect of US-Russian cooperation in aluminium production and rare minerals mining.

The message appears to be getting through.

"We'd like to have more trade with Russia," said Donald Trump on Tuesday in his interview with Fox News.

"They have some very valuable things for us, including rare earth. They have a big chunk of real estate, the biggest in the world. They have things that we could use."

Moscow may well be hoping - possibly calculating - that Donald Trump will prioritise getting a chunk of that "Russian real estate" over securing an acceptable deal for Ukraine to end the war.

It's a point echoed today by the pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper:

"Moscow's logic is to make economic relations with America so profitable that severing them would be too costly for the United States."

After Ukraine had agreed to an unconditional ceasefire a week ago, the US administration publicly announced that "the ball is in [Russia's] court".

Now that Vladimir Putin has rejected the deal and set his own conditions, the Kremlin leader has hit it back into America's "court".

But Russia and America will continue their discussions - both on Ukraine and on US-Russian ties.

And it's these negotiations which are likely to influence Donald Trump's next move.