Russian President Putin’s statements from December 2025 suggest serious progress towards peace and possible détente with the USA, but how is the situation being covered in the West in general and the USA in particular? Will Western elites resist peace and sleepwalk into a war they aren’t ready for and can’t hope to survive?

Even if Peace is Achieved, Certain Linguistic Framing Makes it Clear the West has Damaged Relations with Russia

Reuters quoted President Putin as saying, “The ball is entirely in the court of our Western opponents, primarily the leaders of the Kyiv regime, and in this case, first and foremost, their European sponsors. We are ready for both negotiations and a peaceful resolution to the conflict.”

If the Russians now see us as opponents, it is not without reason. This change in pesrpective is not without justification; it makes sense geopolitically; it makes sense in light of American provocations. We have initiated and sustained a proxy war; there have been Western sponsored assassinations and attempts to subvert and undermine Russian society via NGOs. However, if this is the current reality, it is truly unfortunate because it was always unnecessary; it didn’t have to happen. The West didn’t have to embark on this course of action.

Interestingly, the Russian government provided official transcripts of that statement, which are as follows –

“So saying that we reject anything is inappropriate and groundless. The ball is entirely in the court of our Western “opponents,” so to speak, primarily the chiefs of the Kiev regime and, most importantly, their European sponsors. We are ready for talks, and we are ready to conclude the conflict by peaceful means.”

It becomes obvious and apparent that Reuters is engaged in dishonesty, with manipulation of transcripts, subtitles, translations, and omission of key words and contextual framing. President Putin didn’t exactly say that the West are opponents of Russia; he said, “So to speak,” the West are “opponents,” and he stressed that he was using that term loosely, not as the ideal descriptor, but as the most necessary term for lack of a better term. Reuters did not provide the context by which President Putin said, “our western opponents,” and they dropped the words “so to speak,” creating a false impression that President Putin has a firm conviction in the hostility and opposition of Russia and the West.

These are not exactly glaring and blatant falsifications such as would be the case if President Putin said, “We want peace,” and Reuters reported, “He said, ‘We want war.’” But they are still falsifications and distortions. An impression is created that it is official formal institutional policy in the Kremlin to regard the West as enemies, opponents, when President Putin’s actual remarks make it clear that is not exactly the case.

American media outlets, especially legacy corporate media, have a well-earned and deserved reputation for falsifications, whether splicing of audio or the mistranslation of quotes or the omission of key words and........

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