Russia says Trump-Putin ‘understandings’ incomplete
Russia accused the United States of failing to fulfill the “agreements” reached between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at the summit in Alaska last August; It’s a change that signals growing frustration in Moscow.
Within three days, three senior Russian officials said, without providing details, that Washington had failed to comply with this decision.
Their comments follow an intensification of Ukrainian drone strikes deep into Russia, including two attacks on a Moscow oil refinery last week, and a Group of Seven summit in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Trump and other Western leaders that Kiev was turning the tide of the war.
Moscow denies this and continues its own heavy attacks.
Since Trump began pushing to end the war in Ukraine last year, sometimes criticizing Putin but mostly blaming Zelenskiy for failing to reach a deal, the Kremlin has repeatedly expressed gratitude for his efforts.
Since the Alaska summit, there has been frequent talk of the “Anchorage spirit” — shorthand, analysts say, for Russia’s claim that it is sympathetic to Trump’s core demand that Ukraine give up the entire Donbas region in exchange for a freezing of battle lines elsewhere.
The United States has not announced anything agreed upon, and allied leaders remain unconvinced that Trump has accomplished anything by rolling out the red carpet for Putin.
But just a month after the summit, Trump, in a characteristic turn, suggested that Ukraine could retake all the territory Russia had seized, and Moscow soon began expressing disappointment.
In the first of his first high-level statements about the encounter, Kremlin deputy Yuri Ushakov said on Sunday that only one side had adhered to the agreements, “while the other side, as it seems now, has not fully fulfilled its part.”
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested the summit could be a US “tactic to buy time to rearm the Kiev regime.”
Lavrov’s deputy, Sergei Ryabkov, also accused the United States of departing from the “basic understandings” reached in Alaska, according to Interfax. However, he was quoted as saying that the dialogue with the USA will continue.
“We see that Washington’s line is also approaching the most virulent anti-Russian policies pursued by Britain and France, the closest European allies of the United States,” Ryabkov said, referring to the G7 summit held in France last week. he said.
Gerhard Mangott, an Austrian analyst and senior observer of Putin, said the change reflected Moscow’s uneasiness over “a very critical situation for the Russian economy and military” due to the escalation of Ukrainian attacks in Russia. He said Moscow believed they were aided by the United States.
Mangott said, “Putin needs to give an answer that is visible to the public and shows that he still has cards to play,” and predicted that military tensions will increase further and Russia will pressure Trump to intervene again.
Speaking about Ukraine’s latest attacks, Putin said on Tuesday that “the entire West” was working for Kiev.
Oleg Ignatov, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Russia has been dismayed by the lack of US mediation efforts since February, when Trump launched a war against Iran alongside Israel, and Washington’s attention has shifted.
Russia has consistently ruled out the possibility of mediation by European governments, who have given little or no sign that they would encourage Kiev to make major concessions.
Ignatov said Russia wants the United States to continue diplomacy to help Russia end the war on its own terms.
“There is no structured diplomatic process, there is no agreement on the table, in fact there is nothing,” Ignatov said.
“The Russians are very disappointed about this, they really want the Americans to step in.”
