Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an official state visit to Astana, Kazakhstan, on May 28, 2026. The Trump administration should adopt the “trust, but verify” approach to negotiations with Russia.  (Shutterstock/Takeshisan)

How to Negotiate with Vladimir Putin

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The end of the Ukraine War will not come through blind trust in Russian promises, but through the adage, “trust, but verify.”

On Sunday, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria asked a serious and necessary question: Does the Trump administration dangerously misunderstand Russian President Vladimir Putin?

President Putin is, of course, a Russian nationalist shaped by a career in the Soviet intelligence services, where concealment, manipulation, and exploitation of weakness are instruments of power. He seeks to diminish American influence and weaken the international order.

The evidence appears across continents. According to The Financial Times, Russia has secretly assisted Iran in developing advanced supersonic cruise-missile technology. Moscow has supported Venezuela and projected power across Africa, while using energy, disinformation, and military force against Western interests. Anyone negotiating with Putin must understand that he respects strength, studies internal divisions, and may use diplomacy itself as a weapon.

But the most powerful moment in Zakaria’s segment was the testimony of Iryna Chechotkina, co-founder of Rozetka, one of Ukraine’s largest e-commerce companies. She helped build a $70 million logistics center outside Kyiv that employed around 1,000 people and supported tens of thousands of Ukrainian vendors. The warehouse represented years of work and sacrifice. For Iryna, a........

© The National Interest