A key element of the Trump administration’s overall plan for ensuring peace in Ukraine is a proposal that would completely overturn American energy policy in recent years. According to the arguments presented by the USA, Europe should resume purchasing Russian gas in larger quantities — a measure that would represent an economic advantage for Moscow and would confer renewed influence in the region, notes The New York Times.
The peace envoys of the American President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, brought up this idea during meetings with Ukrainian and European officials, including President Volodimir Zelenski in Kiev last month, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
To persuade Russia to end the war in Ukraine, the Americans argued, Ukraine should consider reinstating the pipelines that previously transported Russian natural gas to Europe.
European officials involved in negotiations have been reticent about this idea, which would nullify the efforts made for years by the European Union, with the support of Washington, to renounce Russian gas. However, representatives of the Trump administration consider Russian gas exports as a possible component of a peace agreement, considering the revenues that would return to Ukraine and what they perceive as the inevitable desire of European voters to benefit from cheaper energy, the sources said, who discussed sensitive diplomatic aspects under the condition of anonymity.
This discrepancy underscores the unusual nature — and, according to critics, seriously flawed — of Trump’s renewed diplomatic effort to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Instead of exerting pressure on President Vladimir Putin or trying to strengthen Ukraine’s war effort, the administration has spent much time exploring economic incentives for Russia and discussing them within negotiations with Europe and Ukraine.
American and Russian officials have been discussing potential trade agreements since last year, but the prospect of these seems to have had no effect in persuading Putin to abandon his essential demands. And considering how much European and Ukrainian leaders oppose returning to dependence on Russian gas, the proposal could further complicate the Trump administration’s efforts to end the war.
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