Can Putin disentangle himself from the "Scarlet Thread of Maidan"?

In my blog entry of 19 July, 2016, I wrote that, 

"And at last week’s Republican National Security Committee platform meeting in Cleveland, Josh Rogin (left) reports that,

"The Trump campaign worked behind the scenes last week to make sure the new Republican platform won’t call for giving weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces, contradicting the view of almost all Republican foreign policy leaders in Washington." (Washington Post : July 18, 2016) (my emphasis)"

I further wrote that,

"Diana Denman (right), a platform committee member from Texas, had proposed at the [2016] Republican National Security Committee platform meeting in Cleveland,

".... a platform amendment that would call for maintaining or increasing sanctions against Russia, increasing aid for Ukraine and “providing lethal defensive weapons” to the Ukrainian military."

It is now emerging, as reported by Mark Hosenball (left), that,

"Investigators probing whether Donald Trump’s presidential campaign colluded with Russia have been questioning witnesses about events at the 2016 Republican National Convention, according to two sources familiar with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiries." (Reuters : March 29, 2018) (my emphasis)

Specifically, Mueller is investigating the 'watering down' of  Diana Denman's proposal calling for increasing aid for Ukraine and “providing lethal defensive weapons” to the Ukrainian military" at the 2016 Republican National Security Committee that were made by Manafort, and other Trump cohorts, in collusion with Putin's Russian operatives at the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Yet again is the 'Scarlet Thread Of Maidan', the thread that led to the millstone of sanctions around Putin's neck, once more bubbling to the surface of the Mueller investigation into the Putin-Trump collusion during the 2016 US Presidential elections, which led to Trump now occupying the White House.

At the same time, the current US Omnibus Spending Bill, which Trump recently signed into law, contains, as reported by Dan Merica (left),

" ... a direct message to President Donald Trump: Russia needs to be punished.
...
The so-called omnibus spending bill, which the Senate passed just after midnight early Friday morning, includes measures that bar a host of federal agencies from engaging with Russia and sanctions the country for a vast series of grievances.
...

One section bars money from funding a program that Russia participates in by stating money should "not be used for officials of the central government of Russia."

 ...

Another section punishes Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea by barring funds from going to support any countries that back the annexation, and directs Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to push Americans on certain financial boards to disallow funds from flowing to programs supportive of Russia's annexation." (CNN : March 23, 2018) (my emphasis)

The millstone of sanctions around Putin's neck has thus grown heavier.

And it is this millstone around his neck that is now forcing Putin to agree, together with Angela Merkel,  Petro Poroshenko, and Emmanuel Macron to,

" ..... examine ways to speed up progress on a peace plan for eastern Ukraine and end a conflict that triggered sanctions against Russia.

 ...
The four countries pledged to “search in the months ahead for possible solutions to accelerate the implementation” of the Minsk [2] accords, which laid out military and political steps to end the conflict between Ukraine’s government and pro-Russian separatists.to speeding up" (Gregory Viscusi: Bloomberg : March 29, 2018) (my emphasis) 

But can Putin disentangle himself from the "Scarlet Thread of Maidan"?

(to be continued)