An imminent breakthrough in Ukraine does not seem realistic at the moment. The Kremlin has put a damper on hopes for a ceasefire negotiation by making it clear that Vladimir Putin has no diplomatic contacts planned for the beginning of the new year. Moscow has also raised the stakes against Europe with one of its weapons, gas, announcing the interruption of supplies to Moldova, a candidate for EU membership.
Officially, because he has not honored his debts. In the last month and a half, the possibility of starting negotiations for Ukraine has begun to appear, albeit timidly, in the reasoning of the chancelleries. Something moved with a phone call between Putin and Olaf Scholz in mid-November, and above all with the first informal conversation between the Russian president and Donald Trump, but the reality is that there is still nothing concrete, and indeed Westerners fear that Putin aims to buy more time to consolidate victories on the ground. The Kremlin's ambiguity has also emerged from the latest statements by Dmitry Peskov.
Putin's spokesman, questioned by journalists in Moscow, said that the president has no plans to meet with foreign leaders in the near future, "neither on January 1, 2, nor 3." And above all, he pointed out, "for now, no path" for a peace process "is in sight due to the position of the Kiev regime." Which, according to Moscow, is making unacceptable demands. In recent days, Robert Fico has tried to break the EU's pro-Kiev front, flying to Moscow for a face-to-face meeting with Putin, with the offer to host the peace talks. At the same time, the Slovakian prime minister has lashed out at Zelensky, accusing him of not being interested in a ceasefire. And then threatening to interrupt the flow of electricity to Kiev, or other actions, if Ukraine blocks the supply of Russian gas to Slovakia starting January 1.
The Ukrainian leader's response was harsh: Fico is pursuing a "short-sighted policy under orders from Moscow, which will also harm the Slovak people" and will distance his country from the EU. Energy is a sensitive issue in this war and Russia has already shown that it is using its inexhaustible gas resources to put pressure on the Europeans. It is no coincidence that the news from Moscow came that Gazprom has decided to eliminate supplies to Moldova from January 1st. With the justification that the authorities in Chisinau "refuse to pay their debts".
The Russian group also "reserves the right" to take further action, including terminating the gas contract with Moldova. Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean immediately protested: "The government condemns this repressive tactic and reiterates that it does not recognize any alleged debt, which has been declared invalid by an international audit." The gas dispute between Moscow and Chisinau dates back to before the war in Ukraine, but relations have been at an all-time low since the Moldovan authorities accelerated their integration process towards the EU, culminating in a referendum that sanctioned a yes to membership (albeit by a narrow margin). In addition, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, a fervent pro-European, has just been confirmed for a second term at the end of an election overshadowed by accusations of Kremlin interference in the former Soviet republic.
On the military front in Ukraine, meanwhile, the head of the Kiev armed forces Oleksandr Syrskyi took stock of 2024, admitting that it was a "difficult" year, but at the same time claiming that "the Russians paid the highest price since the beginning of the invasion in terms of losses: 421,000 dead and wounded." In Moscow, the FSB announced that it had foiled a plot to kill a high-ranking Russian officer and a war blogger with a bomb hidden in a portable speaker. An action similar to the one that on December 17 cost the life of General Igor Kirillov, commander of the nuclear, chemical and biological defense troops.
(Online Union)
