Extortion. It's not theft if it's just unreasonable, performative demands. I don't think there's any expectation it will work, it is just telegraphing to all and sundry that America is controlled by Russia now, and that's not even entirely true either.
The US met privately with Russia and (thus far) here’s what come out of it: Russia keeps all territory taken; US takes significant public revenue from Ukrainian state; Ukraine never joins Nato. This is nothing short of a win for Putin, at a time in which going on with the invasion seems too costly
This goes way beyond just siding with Russia in their invasion of a sovereign nation. We have launched an invasion of our own. Fiscal/economic Fascism is at least as powerful as the military kind, and this blatant blackmail attempt is a perfect example of that. And he won't even honor his promises.
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