While pundits have debated whether Russian President Vladimir Putin's cease-fire order for Orthodox Christmas is legitimate or a chance to regroup his embattled troops, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton tells Newsmax it's part propaganda, and probably part a regrouping effort.
"Remember, he's talking here about Orthodox Christmas," Bolton said Thursday on "The Record with Greta Van Susteren." Putin is "the one who's saying, 'Let's take Orthodox Christmas off.'"
The twist, Bolton said, is that although there are people in Ukraine who still adhere to the Russian Orthodox Church, in recent years the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was granted autocephaly, or self-governance, and put itself under the protection of the patriarch in Istanbul. As such, Ukrainians were told they had the choice to continue celebrating Eastern Orthodox Christmas on Jan. 7 or celebrating Western Christmas on Dec. 25.
"So I think this is Putin propaganda, saying this is the real Christmas," Bolton said. Putin refused requests for a cease-fire during Western Christmas.
"And it's a message internally for Russia as much as anything, whether there's an operational ploy here," he added. "Is he trying to shore up a weak position? Is he trying to bring forces forward for an offensive under the guise of a cease-fire? We don't know. But that wouldn't surprise me either."
Bolton noted that such holiday cease-fires are not unprecedented, pointing to Allied and German soldiers crawling out of the trenches and singing and drinking together for one day on Christmas before returning to war.
Nevertheless, he said, "I think it's largely propaganda from Putin's point of view, and I think it's as I say, I think its main audience is inside Russia to show he's the one making a humanitarian gesture, and Zelenskyy rejecting it. If I were in Zelenskyy's shoes I would have done exactly the same thing."
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