| Donald Trump promised a quick resolution to the war in Ukraine. If he succeeds, the most likely outcome is a ceasefire based on the current front lines remaining in place. This means, however, another frozen conflict, rather than peace. Does Trump know that frozen conflicts are a Russian speciality? And does he know the reasons why Russia engineers such scenarios? Assuming he does not, here is what he should know. In the context of post-Soviet international relations, a frozen conflict is where active armed conflict has been brought to an end, but no peace treaty or other political framework is in place to resolve it. The main reason why Russia engineers frozen conflicts is to prevent post-Soviet countries it borders from getting close to the EU and NATO. As a rule, the EU and NATO require an applicant country to solve territorial disputes with its neighbours before it joins. (A huge exception was made for Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2004 while not controlling almost half of its territory, now considered EU territory, despite being under the orders of Ankara.) Russia likes to make sure that several independent post-Soviet states have sovereignty over the entirety of their territory in name only. In reality, Russian puppets still control large swathes of their country. | 