No ceasefire, no deal, no tangible output but ‘productive’: Trump-Putin meeting ends in Alaska with no agreement on Russia-Ukraine war
The much-anticipated summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, which finally took place in Alaska on Friday (August 15th), ended with no agreement on the Russia-Ukraine war. The unusual warmth displayed by the two historical rivals during the meeting stood in contrast with the coldness of Trump’s threats of imposing sanctions on Russia if it did not agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine. Given Trump’s signature aggressive tone towards Russia, the hearty welcome accorded by him to Putin took the world by surprise.
Ever since coming to power the second time, Trump has been emphasising ending the Russia-Ukraine war. One of his first promises after assuming office was to end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours. Recently, ahead of his meeting with Putin, Trump warned that he would impose sanctions on Russia if it did not put an end to its ongoing conflict with Ukraine before Friday. While he did not specify the measures he would take against Russia, he earlier threatened Russia’s trading partners, including India and China, with secondary tariffs.
This came after the White House had already imposed 25% punitive tariffs on India for buying Russian oil. Although the Russia-Ukraine war has not ended even after six months of Trump’s assuming office, the already meek possibilities of a US-brokered ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine definitely seem to have come to an end after the meeting.
Trump describes the meeting as “extremely successful”
Subsequent to the meeting that went on for over 2 hours at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, the two leaders made a joint appearance before the media for what was supposed to be a press conference. However, none of them took questions from the media.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Trump, who often talks in superlatives, described the meeting as “extremely productive” despite the lack of any eagerly-awaited announcements on the Russia-Ukraine war. “We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to; there are just a very few that are left. We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there,” said the US President, noticeably lacking his aggressive tenor post the meeting.
Putin also made a general statement about the conflict and at the same time warned Ukraine and European nations to “not create any obstacles” and not “make attempts to disrupt this emerging progress through provocation or behind-the-scenes intrigues.”We hope that the understanding we have reached will… pave the way for peace in Ukraine,” said Putin.
Ukraine was absent from the meeting that was supposed to put an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Interestingly, while the Russia-US summit was supposed to yield a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, the latter was not included in the meeting despite being a direct party to the conflict. One wonders how a peace ‘agreement’ could have been reached between the parties when one of the parties was not even present for such an agreement.
The concern was raised by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, ahead of the US-Russia meeting, who said that the leaders of all three countries, Ukraine, Russia and the US, needed to sit across the table to reach a peace deal.
“Russia must end the war that it itself started and has been dragging out for years. The killings must stop. A meeting of leaders is needed – at the very least, Ukraine, America, and the Russian side – and it is precisely in such a format that effective decisions are possible. Security guarantees are needed. Lasting peace is needed. Everyone knows the key objectives. I want to thank everyone who is helping to achieve real results,” Zelensky said.
Trump, who is claiming the Nobel Peace Prize for purportedly brokering peace between several countries across the world, was hoping to add another feather to his hat by brokering a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. However, after the meeting failed to bear any fruit, Trump shifted the entire onus of making peace with Russia to Ukraine.
Rating his meeting with Putin “10/10”, Trump said that now it was Ukraine’s responsibility to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. “Now it’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done. And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit, but it’s up to President Zelensky,” Trump said as quoted by Fox News after the summit.
Regardlesss of the fact that the meeting did not result in a breakthrough on the Russia-Ukraine war, it might bring some temporary relief for India. After the meeting, Trump said that he will not be thinking about imposing secondary tariffs on countries buying Russian oil, which include India, “right now” but will think about it in “two or three weeks”. “Now, I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now. I think, you know, the meeting went very well,” Trump said.
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