"Even if Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are able to reach a deal that leads to a ceasefire in the Ukraine war, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not abandon his goal of dominating Kyiv, a top Russia expert warns."
"So as long as Putin's in the Kremlin, he's not going to give up on Ukraine," Angela Stent, who served in the Office of Policy Planning at the State Department from 1999 to 2001 and as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council from 2004 to 2006, told Insider.
"He is not going to give up on his goal of subordinating Ukraine" and "having a government there that's pro-Russian," Stent said, adding, "That's his goal. He obviously hasn't achieved it now and he probably won't in the near future, but he's not going give up on that."
"This is something that's driven him for years, something he's obsessed with...He is determined to subordinate the Ukrainians," Stent, now a Georgetown professor and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, went on to say."
Talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey appeared to show signs of progress this week, but Stent does not believe Russia is approaching the discussions in good faith.
"They're not serious about this" and just attempting to "buy time" and find "leverage," Stent said, noting that the lead Russian negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, is a former culture minister and not someone with direct contacts to Putin or the Kremlin. To her point, there was an evident disconnect between Medinsky's assessment of the talks and the Kremlin.
https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-will-never-give-up-ukraine-as-long-as-hes-in-kremlin-2022-4