Putin wants to delay peace talks until spring to put pressure on Ukraine: "They pretend to negotiate"

Russian President Vladimir Putin would be trying to delay peace talks with Ukraine until at least next spring to continue attacking his enemy and weakening him and thus be able to put pressure on him.

This is what Gitanas Nauseda, the president of Lithuania, maintains, who granted an interview with the German media Die Welt. "Currently, Russian leaders do not see the need to enter into negotiations, at least not before spring 2027," says the Baltic leader.

That is why he is distrustful of the next movements. "The Russians will just pretend they want to negotiate. I don't trust them," Nauseda says. "Russia will impose demands that Ukraine will consider unacceptable from the beginning, deliberately ensuring that the so-called negotiations fail," adds Nauseda.

"If Ukraine survives this winter - and I am convinced that it will - the chances of serious talks will increase in 2027. I do not expect them to happen before," adds the Lithuanian president.

Nauseda recalls that Russia has targeted kyiv's energy infrastructure to paralyze the country and subdue it, while planning to unleash a major winter offensive.

"That is why we must continue to provide military assistance to Ukraine, in particular air defense equipment," adds the Lithuanian president, who believes that Putin will continue the war as long as he can, since "the Kremlin cares little about the standard of living of the population."

Furthermore, Nauseda believes that Putin will continue to provoke Europe with an increasingly intense campaign of hybrid warfare. "We have received information about possible provocations," he says.

In any case, the Lithuanian president says that "I do not believe that Russia is currently prepared for large-scale operations. Russia's resources are committed on the Ukrainian battlefield, and Russia is not succeeding there."