Putin craves international recognition of Russian Crimea and the lifting of sanctions. Only eight countries currently recognize Moscow’s annexation, and it’s an awkward squad of leftist Latin American regimes (Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela), a founding member of the “Axis of Evil” (North Korea), a regime whose leader has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes (Sudan), an African country facing economic collapse (Zimbabwe), and an embattled ally that has murdered thousands of its own citizens (Syria). Moscow desperately needs a few respectable countries to accept the new status of Crimea. The ultimate prize would be U.S. recognition because of Washington’s global power and the possibility of inducing American allies to follow suit.

The problem for Putin is that the United States would be expected to sell this endorsement for a very high price. After all, Moscow values it highly. Russia’s territorial aggrandizement also clearly violated global norms. And Russia has no obvious point of counter-leverage. Moscow has oil and gas but the United States is increasingly energy independent.

Therefore, Washington should make the process of recognizing Russian Crimea so prolonged, painful, and expensive that it deters Putin from launching similar adventures elsewhere. This means years of tough negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. It means an internationally supervised referendum in Crimea (which Russia would probably win). And it means compensation for Kiev—to the tune of billions of dollars.

But rather than dust off The Art of the Deal and drive a hard bargain, Trump has chosen the alternative path of appeasement. His strategy is to recognize Russian Crimea in return for nothing. In July, Trump was asked whether he would recognize Russia Crimea and lift sanctions, and simply responded: “Yes. We would be looking at that.” In August, he added “the people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.”

That sound was American leverage vanishing into the air.

Meanwhile, in Syria, the United States also has something that Putin desires: support for (or acquiescence in) a pro-Russian regime in Damascus. In strategic terms, Syria matters far more for Russia than for the United States. Syria is the location for Russia’s only military base outside the former Soviet Union. And Putin is now embroiled in a high-stakes military operation to save Assad’s regime.

The tentative peace process in Syria revolves around key questions. Could Bashar al-Assad temporarily stay in power in a new transitional regime? Could Moscow’s security interests be guaranteed? These are negotiable issues. The United States could answer in the affirmative in return for Russian concessions elsewhere, for example, on protecting human rights or accepting a more inclusive government.