Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that peace talks with Ukraine have been stalled due to “inflated expectations” as leaders continue to urge the Kremlin to shift course.
“All disappointments come from inflated expectations,” Putin told reporters Friday, according to The New York Times.
“In order to solve the issue in a peaceful way, we need deep conversations, not in public, but in the silence of a negotiating process,” he added.
One of the most vocal critics of Russia’s repeated airstrikes has been President Trump, who promised to end the conflict in Ukraine within 24 hours if elected to the presidency.
As his administration surpasses its six-month mark, negotiators have been unable to make headway as a past temporary ceasefire agreement fell through.
After Trump issued a a 50-day timeline for Russia to agree to a peace deal in mid-July, he shrunk the deadline on Monday and said he wanted to see progress in 10 to 12 days. Trump is threatening to impose strict tariffs on the Kremlin and their trading partners, including India and China, if headway isn’t made.
“I gave him to a lesser number, because I think I already know the answer what’s going to happen,” Trump said Monday while standing beside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland.
But Russia’s leaders have brushed aside the president’s ultimatum.
“Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences,” Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, wrote in a mid-July post on the social platform X.
“Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care,” added Medvedev, who also previously served as president and prime minister of Russia.
In a Monday post on X, Medvedev continued the battle.
“Trump’s playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10…” he wrote. “He should remember 2 things: 1. Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran. 2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war,” Medvedev wrote. “Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!”
Trump hit back on Friday urging the leader to “watch his words.”
“I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way, and tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!” the president added.
