The world is watching, even people inside of Russia, in hopes that Russian President Vladimir Putin will relent in his actions toward Ukraine, but there is "no guarantee" that he'll back down, even under more pressure, as he "clearly is unhinged," Rep. Lee Zeldin tells Newsmax.
"I think that even within Russia, there's hope that Putin will come back off this ledge," the New York Republican said Friday on Newsmax's "John Bachman Now." "One can only hope … there's also the possibility that he ends up doubling down."
There has been some momentum in recent days, between Putin's call Thursday with Turkey's President Recep Erdogan, and Zeldin pointed out Russia's economy was struggling even before the late February invasion.
"It hasn't gotten any better, obviously, with these new sanctions now, with teeth, as opposed to some of the earlier threats and some of the earlier sanctions that weren't really doing that much," said Zeldin.
But, added Zeldin, Putin has been showing some signs of problems, even by his "wildly underestimating" Ukraine's will and ability to fight back.
Putin's control of the media and military, however, shows that his country and military are being blocked from knowing what's happening, the congressman said.
Members of the military, according to reports, had no idea in many cases that they were heading to Ukraine, and they did not know what they would face there, said Zeldin.
In addition, Putin is "losing the information war," with stories surfacing about Ukraine's resistance to the Russian invaders, including that of a Ukrainian who detonated a suicide bomb to stop a Russian tank from advancing, the congressman said.
Further, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is still fighting for his country, in comparison to former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country as the Taliban advanced, said Zeldin.
"Putin is trying to play catch up, and I don't think he will," he added.
However, Putin will continue to demand more than what Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people will want to concede, said Zeldin.
"If there actually is a real neutrality offer on the table from Putin, he could be bluffing," said Zeldin. "Putin's in a box and he has no good way out of this. Ironically, Zelenskyy could be somebody who provides Putin that off-ramp, but we'll see how much Zelinsky and the Ukrainian people are willing to concede.
"You know, maybe they don't want to reward bad behavior. Maybe if they reward bad behavior now it only incentivizes another invasion in the future."
Meanwhile, it may take even stronger sanctions to get Putin to yield, said Zeldin.
"A lot of focus gets put on the military option, but there is more pressure that could be applied on the economic," he said. "Another instrument of power is diplomacy, and we have Russian diplomats who are still in New York, inside of the United States.
"If you want to send a strong message, kick all the Russian diplomats out of our state and out of our country. There are more options. You can hit them harder where it hurts in a way that is not dropping a bomb."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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