Charles Maines
speaker
571 appearances
56 recordings
3 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 4d ago
Charles Maines’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 44 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 10.
Appearances
The catch, and it's a big one, is it's not clear when the partial ceasefire would begin or if conditions to put the deal in place could be met.
Well, they mostly come from the Russian side. The Kremlin issued a statement in which it made clear the deal would only come into force once the U.S. had lifted all sorts of sanctions-related entanglements to Russian maritime trade that were put in place because of Russia's invasion of its neighbor.
Things like plugging Russia's state agricultural bank back into the international payment system, giving access to Russian sea vessels in foreign ports, even just solving problems like getting Russian ships insured to haul cargo around the world. So, you know, in essence, Moscow is demanding the U.S.
resolve all sorts of complaints that had doomed an earlier United Nations-brokered deal that tried to get Russian and Ukrainian grain and fertilizer out to world markets in the first year of the war. That's when there were real concerns about global food shortages.
It is. But even for Trump, speaking yesterday, he sounded somewhat unsure the U.S. could meet all the Russian demands.
You know, the truth here is that the U.S. can't really remove all these barriers without European allies agreeing to do much the same. And Europe remains far more skeptical of Moscow and supportive of Kyiv. Meanwhile, Ukraine, you know, it's objected to what it sees as unilateral sanctions relief for Russia by the U.S.
Perhaps with that in mind, the White House also addressed Ukrainian demands, saying it would work towards the return of Ukrainian children and prisoners of war held by Russia. That's something that Kyiv has been asking Trump to press Moscow on. really ever since he came into office vowing to end the war.
You know, it does. Both Moscow and Kiev have accused one another of violating that energy infrastructure ceasefire, just as both have continued attacks on targets outside of that agreement. And because of all that, there's a lot of skepticism on both sides. This latest ceasefire deal will work.
In fact, sometimes it feels like the Trump administration is its own best cheerleader in this process, optimistic, whatever the truth on the ground.
Thank you.
Well, yesterday, the Kremlin spokesman said Moscow wanted to hear detailed information directly from the Americans. And today we learned they're getting it on multiple fronts. White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrived this morning for talks with Kremlin officials. That's his second trip to Moscow since he negotiated the release of an American schoolteacher last month.
Meanwhile, Putin's advisor, Yuri Shakov, said he'd been in direct telephone contact with U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Waltz was one of the key U.S. negotiators in talks with the Ukrainians, and Ushakov made clear Moscow found the U.S.
So here Ushakov says Russia saw the ceasefire as simply an opportunity for Ukraine to regroup and rearm. And he went on to repeat that Moscow wants a long-term end to the conflict that takes into account Russia's security interests, something the Kremlin has said often, frankly.
Not necessarily. I mean, that's what Witkoff is in Moscow to discuss. But clearly, these two sides are far apart. Keep in mind, Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said quite explicitly he would not accept a temporary ceasefire because he wanted a peace that addressed, in his words, the root of the conflict.
Now, that's Kremlin speak for Russia's demands that NATO retreat from Russia's borders and, of course, forego Ukraine. There's also this. So last night, Putin dressed in military camouflage with state media cameras in tow, visited army headquarters in the Russian region of Kursk.
Now, that's where Russian troops appear to be finally on the verge of driving out occupying Ukrainian forces who've been there for months. So this was essentially a propaganda tour. And while Putin made no mention of the Ukrainian ceasefire offer, it certainly felt like he was signaling he preferred a military solution. He told his generals to essentially crush the enemy.
Well, that's certainly the point made by more nationalist voices inside Russian society. They say this proposal by Ukraine is really an attempt to use diplomacy to stave off defeat militarily. The catch is that while that may be true in Kursk, where it seems as though Russian forces are genuinely making big gains, it's a harder slog in actual occupied Ukraine.
Meanwhile, polls show a majority of Russians want an end to the conflict in some fashion. And so given that, you know, does Putin risk alienating Donald Trump, given what at least so far has been a very favorable climate of negotiations?
Well, we'll have to see. You know, Trump has suggested at times that he'll get tough with Moscow through new sanctions if the Kremlin fails to sign on to this deal. But Trump's team has already gone on record also saying no to Ukraine's membership in NATO, no to Ukraine regaining all its territory, and it's put in doubt its commitments to European allies.
So you have to think that even if Putin doesn't agree with this ceasefire deal as it's presented now, he'll be looking for ways to present counteroffers and keep the White House engaged.
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