Russians say Iran attack shows U.S. can't be trusted in Ukraine talks

"Trump's decision to assassinate Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while Iran was in active negotiations with the president's envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner has reinforced a growing sense among hard-liners in Moscow that diplomacy is fragile - perhaps even pointless - in a world in which the United States is willing to use military force to achieve its goals."

"Fyodor Lukyanov, a prominent Russian foreign policy analyst who advises the Kremlin and Russian diplomats, told a Russian radio station that the U.S.-Israeli campaign in Iran 'marks a transition to a different type of international relations' where 'at any moment, you can move from being a person sitting across the table to becoming a victim.'"

"The attack on Iran has also reinforced the conviction among proponents of Russia's invasion that the broader conflict over Ukraine will be settled only on the battlefield and that Russian President Vladimir Putin should focus on the fighting. They view the possibility of an independent, Western-oriented Ukraine on their border as the spearhead in a long-running Western effort to encircle and eventual destroy Russia."

Following U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Iran, Russian state media and political analysts are questioning whether negotiations with the United States are genuine or merely precursors to military action. Russian officials point to Trump's decision to target Iran's supreme leader while simultaneous negotiations were occurring as proof of American duplicity. This incident has strengthened the conviction among Russian hard-liners that diplomacy is ineffective and that conflicts, particularly over Ukraine, will be resolved through military force rather than negotiation. Russian analysts argue the strikes demonstrate a shift in international relations where diplomatic engagement offers no protection from sudden military action, making traditional negotiations untenable.

Read at The Washington Post