France's "Les Échos": "Facing Witkoff, the Kremlin remains unmoved!"
International - Russian President Putin held a "constructive" meeting with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on August 6, lasting about three hours. Trump himself confirmed this. An analyst who has regularly met with Putin for years said that U.S. envoy Witkoff is not in control of the situation. The title of the report by "Les Échos" was: "Facing the envoy sent by Trump, the Kremlin remains unmoved!"
"Les Échos" quoted the headline from "Komsomolskaya Pravda": "Witkoff's visit will change nothing!"
Trump stated on his "Truth Social Network": "My envoy Witkoff had a very productive exchange with Russian President Vladimir Putin," and claimed to have made "significant progress." "Everyone agrees that this war must end, and we will work on it in the coming days and weeks."
This comes as the deadline for the United States to demand Russia to stop its attacks on Ukraine, or face new sanctions, is only two days away. Trump has set a deadline of August 8 for Russia to make progress toward peace, otherwise it will face new sanctions.
Austrian analyst Gerhard Mangott told AFP, "Russia will reiterate that it is ready for a ceasefire, but only on terms set by Russia." According to this analyst, Witkoff is unable to control the situation, and reaching a compromise is unlikely. In this case, in order to fulfill his promise, Trump will have to impose secondary sanctions immediately on any country or person purchasing Iranian oil or petrochemical products.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1839754713051200/
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