A key all of Russian President Vladimir Putin ally has dismissed a call by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham for Russia to get “to the peace table” and negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
The rejection by Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and prime minister, of the call by the Republican from South Carolina, came as President Donald Trump spoke of his disappointment with Putin and announced that he would bring forward a deadline for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
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Why It Matters
The comments by Medvedev, who is known as a hawk on Ukraine and close to Putin, will further dim hopes for compromise on a settlement to end the Ukraine war.
Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin as Russian forces pound Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles and push on with ground offensives while the White House is trying to broker peace.
Trump, speaking to reporters in Scotland on Monday, said he would reduce a 50-day deadline he had given Putin for a ceasefire in Ukraine to “a lesser number,” adding that he was “very disappointed” with the Russian president.
On July 14, Trump gave the Russian leader a September 2 deadline to end hostilities, or face secondary sanctions which could deliver a blow to Moscow’s key energy exports.
What to Know
Graham issued his call for Russia to get serious about peace talks in a post on the X social media platform.
“To those in Russia who believe that President Trump is not serious about ending the bloodbath between Russia and Ukraine: You and your customers will soon be sadly mistaken. You will also soon see that Joe Biden is no longer president,” Graham said, adding: “Get to the peace table.”
Medvedev responded by reiterating the Russian demand that its aims must be met before there can be any chance of peace.
“It’s not for you or Trump to dictate when to ‘get at the peace table’. Negotiations will end when all the objectives of our military operation have been achieved. Work on America first, gramps!” he said.
Trump’s pledge this month of “severe” secondary tariffs on Russia if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire was criticized as too lenient, in effect giving Moscow a seven-week window to continue with its battlefield efforts to capture Porkrovsk in the Donetsk region and strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure.
The Trump deadline raises the prospect of 100 percent tariffs on countries trading with Russia, which, if implemented, could impact the purchase of fossil fuels by China and India, which have ramped up their trade with Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
What People Are Saying
Trump on Monday: “We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city, like Kyiv, and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever, you have bodies lying all over the street.”
He added: “I’m disappointed in President Putin. Very disappointed in him. So, we’re going to have to look, and I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number because I think I already know the answer [to] what’s going to happen.”
Medvedev, in a post on X before Graham issued his call, said: “Trump’s playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10 … He should remember 2 things:
1. Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran. 2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!”
