Unlikely 'drone attack' shows Putin has no desire for peace

Hardly had Donald Trump finished his press conference with the Ukrainian president in Florida, during which he repeatedly emphasised that Vladimir Putin wanted peace, than the Kremlin announced a supposed dastardly attempt to assassinate the Russian president at his official residence.

- MARK ALMOND

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov accused Kyiv of launching 91 drones at Putin’s Lake Valdai residence and indicated that Moscow would alter its negotiating position as a result. He produced no evidence for the claim. Why Volodomyr Zelensky would choose that moment to shatter Donald Trump’s peace plan and turn Washington against him has not been explained. More obvious is the Russian leader’s lack of enthusiasm for stopping the war now.

A win on points mediated by the US is not enough for Putin. It would be almost humiliating to let Trump steal the glory - as he certainly would. But more importantly, Westerners fail to see that peace, even a victorious one, holds snares for Russian rulers. Putin frequently places his regime in a longer historical context than just the Communist episode in the 20th century.