In this scathing op-ed,[1] Françoise Thom denounces the Witkoff/Dmitriev plan as a total capitulation dictated by the Kremlin and imposed by the Trump administration. She exposes a cynical strategy aimed not only at subjugating Ukraine but also at turning Europe into the cash cow of a predatory new Russo-American axis.
Faced with this geopolitical « shakedown, » the historian urges the EU to resist, refusing to finance its own vassalization or endorse the destruction of international law.
Françoise Thom — Photo © European-Security
By Françoise Thom — Paris, 25 November 2025 (©)
Putin has just made one of his most cherished dreams come true: he has compromised the United States in his enterprise of demolishing international law. This is the primary objective of the Witkoff/Dmitriev peace plan, which Zelensky has been summoned by President Trump to sign by November 27.
Obviously this plan was drafted in the Kremlin. It reiterates all the war aims formulated by Putin in 2022. But its significance lies elsewhere. It lifts the veil on the future orientations of Kremlin policy and on how Putin’s circle views the future. We will decode the points that have not received sufficient attention from Western observers and demonstrate their implications.
Let us begin with Point 2: « A comprehensive non-aggression agreement will be concluded between Russia, Ukraine, and Europe. All ambiguities left pending over the last 30 years will be considered settled. »
A historian would have no trouble drawing up a list of non-aggression pacts violated by Moscow, such as the Soviet-Finnish Non-Aggression Pact signed in 1932. But the phrase regarding « ambiguities… settled » gives pause for thought. It seems to be an invitation from the Russians to the Ukrainians and Europeans to wipe the slate clean regarding the hard-earned experience of Russian behavior in recent years and to restart from zero. Forget the gas blackmail of Europe, the threats of nuclear apocalypse, the hundreds of thousands of dead in Ukraine: we are to focus only on the reset. The Russians are counting once again on Western amnesia, which has never failed them.
« It is expected that Russia will not invade neighboring countries, » announces Point 3. Who are they trying to fool?
The conditions of disarmament imposed on Ukraine and Russian opposition to a European military presence in Ukraine clearly show that Russia expects to deal with an easy prey during the next operation of « liberation » of Ukrainian territory. The United States and Ukraine must de facto recognize « Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk as Russian regions. » Point 22 specifies that « the Russian Federation and Ukraine undertake not to change these provisions by force« : an impudent reference to the Helsinki agreements that Russia has just demonstratively trampled. Point 20 commits Ukraine and Russia to religious tolerance. This sanctimonious wording hides a major demand of the Kremlin: the re-establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine—that is to say, the restoration of an essential branch of the FSB, destined to play a crucial role in the subversion of the rest of the Ukrainian state.
Similarly, Moscow demands the opening of the Ukrainian information space to Russian media, which exposes Ukraine to daily immersion in the cesspool of the « Russian world. » The Kremlin’s intentions become even clearer with Point 25, ordering Ukraine to « organize elections within 100 days, » which takes on its full meaning in light of Point 26, foreseeing « total amnesty for their actions during the war » for both parties. This is an undisguised nudge to Ukrainian oligarchs involved in corruption scandals to organize themselves and to propel to power a team subservient to the Kremlin. The document dangles copious reconstruction aid packages before Ukraine, but it is obvious that these packages will be under Russian-American control and used by Moscow to strengthen the positions of Ukrainian stooges. This text betrays Moscow’s certainty of having the Trump administration firmly in hand and of achieving control over the entire Ukraine in a short time. This is why the Russians are authorizing a Ukrainian army of 600,000 men: they intend to thereby swell the ranks of the Russian army for their future conquests.
The fact is that the Kremlin has finally succeeded in obtaining what it has sought to achieve since the famous Minsk agreements in 2015: pushing the West to force Kyiv to capitulate. The Europeans refused to bow to this despicable maneuver. Trump had no such scruples. Why does the Kremlin attach such importance to this demonstrative abandonment by the Western ally? Because, as the Georgian experience of 2008-2012 shows, it is the sine qua non condition for installing a Russian satrap in power in Kyiv. With the resistance party annihilated by Western betrayal, the party of collaborators has only to campaign on the slogans of « peace » and « never again. »
And Europe in all this?
It is amusing to see our two rogues deciding on the free access of Ukrainian goods to the European market, the fate of Russian assets in Europe, etc., as if the Russian-American tandem were henceforth to reign supreme over our continent. Visibly, the Russians have recovered from their illusions of autarky. Their economy is desperate, and the Chinese are shamelessly exploiting their monopoly position. What a contrast with the Europeans, once so compliant, who refused nothing!
Consequently, the Kremlin has decided to return to Europe, its traditional cash cow. But how to prime the
pump again? How to re-establish the situation of dependence on Russian gas in Europe when Europeans
have painfully weaned themselves off it?
The solution is to turn to the Trump administration. In exchange for a share of the profits, the Americans will be tasked with marketing Russian gas in Europe. As for the Ukraine undergoing Russification, it will play somewhat the same role as the GDR [East Germany] in the 1970s. It will be a channel through which Russia intends to siphon Western investments and technologies for its own benefit.
For the Russians, the capitulation of Ukraine is merely a prelude to the vassalization of Europe. But the die is not yet cast. The EU can derail the Witkoff-Dmitriev plan if it announces today that it will refuse to finance a Ukraine controlled by Moscow, and that it will boycott the Russian-American tandem by seeking partners among countries that respect law and decency.
For, beyond the crushing of Ukraine, the joint exploitation of the EU is the main motivation of the Moscow-Washington axis whose outlines are taking shape in the text.
Lawless regimes always end in self-destruction when they find nothing left to devour outside their borders. Russia and the United States are well engaged in this process. Let us not offer them a reprieve by allowing them to extort us.
Françoise Thom
[1] This column was published in French by Le Monde in its November 24 edition under the title : Historian Françoise Thom « It is clear that the ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine was drawn up in the Kremlin. »
- See Also: « Der Friedensplan von Witkoff / Dmitriev: Dummheit oder Verrat? » (2025-1127)
