ESW Eurasia Editor Stas Krapivnik

In a video recorded on Friday, March 28, 2025, ExitStrategyWorld Eurasia Editor Stanislav Krapivnik discussed the unlikelihood that the Trump Administration-Kremlin negotiations will yield any lasting ceasefire. Even as the Russian-American negotiations in Riyadh reached a consensus that energy infrastructure for both the Russian and Ukrainian sides would no longer be attacked by drones, missiles and glide bombs; that this would be the initial goodwill gesture ahead of a full ceasefire on the ground. After accusing Russia of bombing a power substation in the Donbass, Ukrainians destroyed a Russian gas pumping station at Suzdha with a precision HIMARS strike. Russia declared that the intelligence for this strike on the deactivated pumping station came from the British and French. The United Kingdom and European Union also rejected any Trump Administration-proposed easing of sanctions on Russian banks that process agricultural and fertilizer sales abroad. Russia and Belarus combined are the largest exporter of fertilizers in the world, and the UK/EU sanctions have contributed to farm costs and food inflation rising across the Continent and the world.

Stanislav believes Zelensky's wartime dictatorship, its main sponsors in London and Brussels as well as most US Congressmen do not want the war or the graft/kickbacks that come with it to end. And it is Congress, Stas emphasized, not just any American President, that must ultimately lift the sanctions. Stas also shared his opinion that most of the Russian Special Military Operation (SMO) veterans he's spoken with do not want any deal, they're not interested in a Minsk 3.0 that will merely pause the fighting for a few years, until Europe helps Kiev re-arm and directly participates in the next Ukrainian offensive; Stas said most Russian SMO soldiers want the unconditional surrender of the current Kiev regime. Stas also revealed that Zelensky previously held Russian citizenship, back when the comedian was making shows for Russian TV channels, including a January 1st, 2013 New Years special. He also mentioned Kiev's increasing persecution of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, one of the most sacred monasteries in the Orthodox Christian world, with the stealing and black market sale of Orthodox sacred relics as one possible motive.

Stas shared his grim conclusion: the war will grind on to its logical end game, the replacement of the Zelensky regime by a new structure on the territory currently ruled by Kiev.

– Belisarius

March 28, 2024