Derk Sauer - Putins Deal





Derk SauerMarch 28, 2025

The West – led by the US – keeps trying to reach agreements with Putin, says Derk Sauer. According to him, they would do better to delve into the deep-rooted conviction of the Russians that there are no win-win situations, only winners and losers.

According to authoritative British military analyst Professor Michael Clarke, Putin – now in power for over 25 years – has violated 190 agreements signed by the Russians.

Among other things, the Minsk agreements, which were supposed to bring about a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine after Russia annexed Crimea. The ink had barely dried when Putin sent a division of Russian soldiers to capture Donetsk airport.

And of course the famous Budapest Memorandum of 1994, when Ukraine became the third nuclear power in the world to surrender all its nuclear weapons. In return, America, England and Russia guaranteed that 'the independence, sovereignty, and existing borders of Ukraine would be respected and that no one would threaten Ukraine or attack it with military force'.

It is certain that if Ukraine had not surrendered its nuclear weapons, Putin would have given up starting the current war. And the world would be a much safer place now.

How is it that with such a track record the West, led by Trump, still believes that it is possible to negotiate with the Kremlin?

The result has been painfully visible in recent weeks. Three (!) ceasefires have now been buried despite bombastic announcements from the White House. Each time, the Russians suddenly came up with new demands that put the entire agreement on shaky ground again. In the meantime, Russia simply continues to bomb.

Western politicians and diplomats just can't get over the fact that agreements have a completely different meaning for Russians than they do for us. I have some experience with this after more than thirty years as a publisher in Russia.

In the West, we are used to putting everything on paper. If you get into a fight, you can go to court to get your way. In Russia, that tradition does not exist at all. There was never an independent judiciary there. And under Putin, it has only gotten worse. The chance of winning a lawsuit as a citizen is exactly 0.15 percent! It does not matter what is written on paper.

We experienced this with our dacha in the woods just outside Moscow where we lived very happily. The rent was steadily increasing according to the contract to about 3000 dollars a month. Suddenly we got the message that we had to pay 20,000 dollars rent immediately.

“But the lease!” we said to the boss of our dacha complex. “You have to make room for Putin’s friends,” he said. “I don’t think you can do anything about this.”

In a society where a corrupt government has an absolute monopoly over the 'judiciary', millions of entrepreneurs can end up in prison on completely fabricated charges designed to rob them of their businesses.

It's all about relationships

No wonder Russians do not believe in any agreement with the government. Lying and cheating is second nature to every civil servant. From the policeman on the street to Putin.

The only way to escape this somewhat is to build trusted networks. It's all about relationships. A 'handshake' is much more important than a signature.

For our publisher Independent Media, I spent much more time getting to know our suppliers and relations than negotiating the price or putting agreements on paper. We hardly used lawyers. Much more important was: how do the people we do business with feel about life? And if it didn't feel right for even a moment, we immediately dropped out. Even if it wasn't financially attractive.

But once we clicked, I have never met anyone more loyal and honest than the Russians we worked with for years in Russia. Like the young woman who, with our support, set up a multi-million dollar magazine printing company in Moscow. When we had a hard time during a ruble crisis and couldn't pay the bills, she just kept on printing.

Russians – led by Putin – believe in what the British so eloquently call a 'zero sum game'

The website of the prestigious Skolkovo Business School warns potential Western businessmen about the cultural difference: 'In the US and Europe, negotiations begin with the assumption that the other party can be credited with a certain degree of good faith, in Russia negotiators will never do that. An entrepreneur will never be able to close a deal unless he has built a long-term relationship.'

Now, of course, business is different from geopolitics. Although, that is exactly how Trump sees it. He did not send real estate magnate Steve Witkoff to Moscow to make a deal with Putin for nothing.

Perhaps it would have been wise if Witkoff had taken the trouble to look at Skolkovo's website: 'Negotiation is a power game in which we (Russians) operate from strength and where we do not believe in win-win situations for both parties.'

Exactly that. Russians – Putin in the lead – believe in what the British so eloquently call a ' zero sum game '. One person's gain means another person's loss.



In addition, the Russian negotiators are seasoned and know their dossiers inside and out. They know better than anyone how to make their opponents feel good and then mislead them.

“They are such gracious people,” Witkoff said after his reception at the Kremlin, “Putin is so smart and straightforward.”

Witkoff is certainly not the first to have fallen for Putin's charm. President George W. Bush spoke the historic words in 2001: "I looked into Putin's soul and I liked what I saw." Bush, at least, can be said to have regretted that later.





Questa mattina mi sono alzato
o bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao
questa mattina mi sono alzato
e ho trovato l'invasor.


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this morning I woke up
and I found the invader.

  
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