All right, Alexander, let's talk about what is going on with Project Ukraine, with the diplomacy

between the United States and Russia and your insights being in St. Petersburg, talking to various

people about the diplomacy that has taken place between Russia and the United States, Trump,

and Putin.

Well, my overwhelming sense, when I was Russia and the United States, Trump and Putin.

Well, my overwhelming sense, when I was in Russia, and I should say I went there to attend a legal forum in St. Petersburg.

So there was many lawyers and people of that kind that I was in contact with.

I did to have some opportunity to move around St. Petersburg itself,

but it was limited. And my overwhelming sense overall was that there's been a general stiffening and a determination to see this thing through and that there is no sense

at all in Russia that these negotiations are going to be

what ends the conflict in the end.

Now, at this legal forum, Dimitri Medvedev, who is the former president of Russia, and the

vice chairman of the Security Council, and the man who is an overall charge of

Russia's military industries. He's the chairman of the military industrial commission.

Anyway, he gave a speech, as a long speech, talked about many topics, but on the issue of the

conflict, he said simply, look, these negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are Ukraine's last chance.

If Ukraine doesn't come to a deal with us basically on our terms, then there is a real possibility

that at the end of this, we're not going to merely have an unconditional surrender on the part

of Ukraine to Russia, but that Ukraine itself as an independent entity might cease to exist.

And he then went on to say, and this is a little very interesting, he then went on to say,

of course, there are some amongst us who actually want that to happen. In other words, that there's an

actual desire on the part of some people in Russia to proceed to that end and to put aside any

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