It’s obvious what Putin got from this meeting – for Trump, not so much
Others will give Trump more loans. He always said that this would be about listening – to “feel” Putin, by measuring his sincerity about peace. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reduced expectations for “setting the table” for a second meeting with Zelensky. Indeed, it is difficult to see how much conclusions from a meeting that excludes the Ukrainian leader and Europe.
However, Putin could do as if he was making concessions. Until a second meeting was held, a temporary ceasefire could have thrown a ceasefire. He could commit to the public to meet Zelensky. Trump could have promised to return the Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia.
This summit was always unusual because it was gathered in a hurry and largely without predetermined results. However, as much as Trump may have reduced expectations, if you are going to organize such an activity, people will expect you to get away with something to be shown.
At the end of the joint press conferences in Alaska, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.Credit: AP
After the meeting, Trump told Fox News Sean Hannity that he believed that an agreement was close. “Now it is up to Zelensky to do this,” he said. “And I can say that European nations should be involved.”
Many will state that Europeans are closely involved, and that Zelensky should be invited to anchor.
Loading
The danger of Ukraine is that Trump may have bought Putin’s claim to ask for peace. He said so many things. The previous US presidents made this mistake; Especially in 2001, George W. Bush said he looked at the Russian eye and saw his soul.
We can yet learn the details of the visible progress in Alaska on Friday. You cannot reduce the possibility that this summit will later pay dividends. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska said that sometimes it is a cautious optimistic, sometimes contradicting Trump.
Vladimir Putin is preparing to talk to the media after his meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska.Credit: Bloomberg
“It was also courageous to hear that both presidents have applied to future meetings, which I hoped to include Ukraine,” he said.
At this point, Putin ambushed Trump at the end of the news conference and claimed that his next meeting in English should take place in Moscow. Trump smiled and said it was a possibility, but he accurately noted that if he accepted it, he would break a little heat.
At the meeting, Trump’s trademark obsession: Anyone who wants to do business with the US. And both men rose to this possibility.
Loading
What Putin has produced from this exercise is clear: a global scene, a warm welcome, and the possibility of solving relations with the world’s largest economy. What Trump comes out of it is much less open for now.
On his way home, he admitted to Hannity that he proved that the Russian-Ukraine conflict was much more difficult than he had imagined. “I thought it would be the easiest of this, and that was the hardest.”
Perhaps the only thing Trump received from Anchorage was a humble dose.
Get a note directly from our stranger reporters What does he do in headlines in the world? Sign up weekly in the World Bulletin.
