Ukraine, Russia: Compromising material
Also: Syria, the US, Myanmar, and Thailand.
The five things you need to know today:
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Putin suggests he's open to a bargain.
SYRIA. Moscow and Washington look to court the new regime.
UNITED STATES. Republicans are split on a contentious spending bill.
MYANMAR. Meetings with the neighbourhood yield few results.
THAILAND. The ruling party’s agenda hits familiar roadblocks.
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UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Compromising material
Putin suggests he's open to a bargain.
Vladimir Putin said he was ready for "compromise" and a meeting with Donald Trump, during his annual public press conference Thursday. Volodymyr Zelensky said the US and EU must work together to "stop Putin and save Ukraine".
INTELLIGENCE. With Russian troops closing in on Pokrovsk, and Ukrainian forces retreating behind the Psel River in Kursk, Zelensky would be expected to be more conciliatory than Putin, whom the former described as a “fantasiser” in talks with EU leaders. Yet while Putin is many things, and is being buffeted by 9% inflation (which he admitted in this year’s 4.5-hour telethon), he’s a stone-cold realist. And if he wants to compromise, he’ll want something in return.
FOR BUSINESS. There’s a view that Trump’s eagerness to strike a deal evinces Russian kompromat on the president-elect. It’s more likely Trump wants a deal for its own sake, insofar as the US has, per Antony Blinken, spent $100 billion with little to show. What Putin gets is an open question. There’s increasing focus on what Europe will do to improve Kyiv’s terms and secure the peace. Yet with France and Germany in crisis, any commitments may not stick.
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SYRIA. Bearding the lion
Moscow and Washington look to court the new regime.
Washington said it had 2,000 troops in Syria, not 900 as previously reported. The US was in contact with Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Antony Blinken said. Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov had been tasked to mediate with HTS, Novaya Gazeta said.
INTELLIGENCE. Kadyrov, himself a former terrorist, has called for HTS to taken off Russia’s sanctions list and brought into