Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's threat that President Donald Trump's updated ceasefire ultimatum could lead to war between his country and the U.S. and NATO is an attempt to "scare the West," former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker told Newsmax on Tuesday.
Trump on Monday said he was reducing the 50-day deadline he gave Russia over its war in Ukraine to "10 or 12 days," underscoring his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for prolonging fighting between the two countries.
Medvedev said in a post on X that Trump was playing "the ultimatum game" with Russia, and that such an approach could lead to a war involving the United States.
"Yeah, this is Medvedev," Volker told Newsmax's "Wake Up America" co-hosts Marc Lotter and Sharla McBride. "He is out there as Putin's little attack dog to say outlandish things and try to scare the West, scare the United States, make us back off.
"The reality is that Russia's already in a war, and it's not going well. They are not in a position to take on anybody else. They are bogged down in Ukraine, and the last thing they can afford is to actually start a war with the United States or NATO. So, we don't need to take that particular threat very seriously."
Lotter asked Volker, who served as special representative for Ukraine during the first Trump administration, whether Putin might be more prone to strike as a result of the U.S. president putting him "into a corner."
"Well, actually, President Trump is giving them a way out," Volker said. "So he's not putting him in a corner. He's saying, Look, have a ceasefire. Stop the war in place. You're still going to occupy a lot of Ukraine. We'll do a peace deal. And he wants to get this war over with, and he's giving Putin that option.
"He's actually done much more than a lot of people would have thought in order to try to bring Putin to the table. Putin is just refusing. And so there's not much left for President Trump to do, but just turn on the pressure and say the way out is still there, but it's going to get more uncomfortable for you if you don't do it."
Volker said he expects Putin to "do something in order to try to prolong" Trump's new deadline.
"He [Putin] may offer a phone call. He may offer to do a call with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and Trump. He may decide to send [Foreign Minister Sergey] Lavrov to meet in Turkey with somebody," Volker said. "He's going to try to squeeze out of this rather than comply by having a ceasefire and see whether he can get a delay in the implementation of these sanctions.
"I hope that President Trump just sticks to his guns and says, Nope, I gave you every opportunity already. Now this is coming down. You've got to stop the war."
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Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.