You could call it a «friendly ultimatum». Is this a new way of issuing ultimatums to an adversary?

It seems that President Trump’s administration is desperately seeking for the Russian dictator Putin to give Washington at least some reason not to impose new sanctions against the Russian Federation.

Or perhaps Steve Witkoff’s task was to submit the new American sanctions to Putin for approval? As if to say, «We won’t introduce these, but as for others – more symbolic ones – President Donald Trump will announce them after Witkoff’s report to him».

Although there is little concrete information, leading American media are already reporting that, most likely, Putin will propose a ceasefire in the air. And he will brazenly reject the proposal for a ceasefire on the ground.

After all, it appears that the Russian dictator simply does not believe that U.S. President Donald Trump would dare to impose «draconian sanctions» against the Russian Federation. I would very much like for Putin to be wrong about this as well.