Putin not going to make deal just to give Trump ‘a good news cycle’: Ben Rhodes

Desmond Milligan · August 19

Ben Rhodes, who served as former President Obama’s deputy national security adviser, expressed skepticism on Tuesday that a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine could materialize in the near future.

In an interview on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports,” Rhodes said it appears the two sides remain far apart on key issues — like details of security guarantees for Ukraine and potential NATO troop deployment — and the former Obama aide said he doesn’t think Russian President Vladimir Putin will back away from his long-standing positions simply to give President Trump a brief political victory.

“Clearly, these are issues. Vladimir Putin knows this. He’s not going to make a deal just to give Donald Trump, like, a good news cycle here. He doesn’t want any non-Ukrainian troops on Ukrainian soil. And so, this is a huge gap here,” Rhodes said on MSNBC.

“This is the question, when you get down to the brass tacks of what does a final deal look like,” Rhodes said. “You have to deal with these things. Otherwise, what you’re looking at is kind of a frozen conflict.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday afternoon that U.S. air support in Ukraine could be part of security assurances as it works to come to a peace agreement with Russia. But she reiterated that Trump does not want U.S. troops on the ground in Kyiv.

Rhodes said it seems Trump would be comfortable with European nations sending troops, but he noted the division is not always clear and asked what the U.S. would do if those NATO troops in Ukraine were attacked.

“Those troops, what happens if they’re attacked by Russia? What happens if Russia reinvades? They’re NATO countries, right? Does NATO come to the assistance of those troops?” Rhodes said.

He noted those troops in Ukraine would “usually depend on kind of a NATO logistics and supply chain to rearm themselves, to train themselves,” adding a deal would need to figure out “What is the U.S. participation in that? What is the NATO participation in that?”

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