Alaska, a hint of Russia in America
Ahead of Friday's summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, moderation is the order of the day. Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov described Alaska as a "logical place" for the August 15 meeting between the two leaders, citing the proximity of the two countries, separated by 82 kilometers across the Bering Strait (2.4 kilometers, if you count the two Diomede Islands − one Russian, the other American), and the shared economic interests in Alaska and the Arctic region.
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LeMonde
6 hours ago
- LeMonde
Sylvie Kauffmann: 'Putin can pretend to negotiate and engage in endless talks that never lead anywhere'
A bilateral meeting lasting under three hours, followed by a 12-minute joint press conference with no announcements: The Friday, August 15, summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska left many questions unanswered. By Saturday morning, as European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky began reacting, Le Monde columnist Sylvie Kauffmann spoke with readers during our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Pierre: Diplomacy is sometimes a theater, with each side seeking to claim success and assign blame in case of failure. Trump had gotten us used to breaking with tradition. Today, he is acting out a classic scenario. Isn't that already a sign that this summit has failed? Sylvie Kauffmann: Calling the summit a failure depends on what was expected of it. If people were hoping Vladimir Putin would commit to a serious ceasefire, then yes, it was clearly a failure. But I do not think that was a reasonable expectation. At this stage, with no results announced, it is neither a success nor a failure. We will have to judge based on the reactions of Europeans, so far very cautious, and the Trump-Zelensky meeting on Monday. There is, however, a significant risk, well known to Europeans: Putin can buy time by pretending to be ready to negotiate and engage in endless talks that never lead anywhere, while his army continues to gain ground and bomb Ukraine. That was essentially the tactic he used after the annexation of Crimea and the first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, during the Minsk negotiations with France, Germany and Ukraine. Let's discuss: How should we interpret the welcome given to President Putin as he came off his plane – with the red carpet, applause and a show of military strength featuring American jets in the background? S.K.: Trump is fascinated by Putin as a figure – he generally gets along well with "strongmen," but he is particularly interested in the Russian leader. He calls him by his first name, Vladimir, which he never does with Zelensky. All of this staging, on a US military base, was meant both to demonstrate American power to Putin and to treat him as the leader of another major power, worthy of every honor. This treatment is all the more ironic since Putin is not only the aggressor of an independent country, in violation of international law, but also subject to an arrest warrant for war crimes. Dodochampion: On the Russian side, did this summit have any other ambitions beyond relaunching Russia's international trade? S.K.: Putin's goal at this summit was first to gain respectability and second to buy time. On both counts, he succeeded: The welcome by the US president on American soil, with great ceremony, rehabilitated him on the international stage, even if he is a pariah in Europe. Furthermore, by engaging in this form of dialogue with Trump, he managed to get the ultimatums and the threat of further sanctions against Russia lifted – at least for the time being: Trump said on Fox News that the issue of sanctions was off the table for two or three weeks. That matters to Putin because the Russian economy is showing serious signs of weakness. And in the meantime, he can keep bombing Ukraine and continue his offensive in the east of the country. On the other hand, Putin failed to turn this meeting into a major Russo-American summit on economic and trade relations or on strategic dialogue regarding arms control. Nice: The statements from Trump and Putin were devoid of substance, suggesting there was no progress. On the US side, shouldn't this lead to a North Korea scenario – that is, the United States losing interest in the matter (and leaving it to the Europeans)? S.K.: Yes, that's possible. Several American experts have drawn a parallel with the 2018 Trump-Kim Jong-un meeting, in which Trump invested a great deal (with the difference that he also wanted to invite Kim to ride with him in The Beast, the presidential limousine, but at the time his advisers convinced him not to – which was not the case with Putin...). Then he lost interest in the North Korea issue after there was no progress. If Trump decides to lose interest in the Ukrainian issue, it will be up to the Europeans to handle it alone. The question then is what level of American military assistance they can still count on, particularly in intelligence and satellite reconnaissance. But they now know that under Trump, the US will disengage from Europe. Vice President JD Vance stated clearly last week that the US would no longer fund Ukraine's defense. So the dynamic is clear. Patrick: Don't you think Trump's attitude puts the US in a position of weakness? It's obvious Trump is afraid of Putin, which puts the latter in a position of strength, with the likely consequence of destabilizing the West for Russia's benefit. What cards does the West have left to ensure its own survival and that of Ukraine? S.K.: You raise a crucial point, but first, speaking of "the West" raises the question of whether that concept still exists under Trump. Clearly, the fate of Ukraine does not have the same meaning or importance for the current Washington administration as it does for the majority of Europeans. For Europe, Ukraine's survival as a sovereign and independent state is existential; for Trump's America, it is not. Yes, the American president is impressed by Putin, and that may seem like a weakness to us, but he sees Putin as a "strong" leader of another major power that, incidentally, has "a lot of land, a lot of rare earths and oil," and with whom he believes he can do "great things," as he has said. The cards the Europeans can play are unity and firmness, particularly in defense, a field where they have a lot of ground to make up, but which they have started to address. That will require significant political effort.
LeMonde
8 hours ago
- LeMonde
After the Trump-Putin summit, Europe must make a move
Everything unfolded just as the Europeans had expected. The summit on Friday, August 15, between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, ended without any concrete prospects for a ceasefire in Ukraine. However, it worked to the advantage of the Russian president, who found himself rehabilitated on the world stage thanks to the event. The aggressor of an independent country, Ukraine, which he claims as his own, and wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, Putin was treated on Friday by the United States with all the honors reserved for a respected leader of a major power. Greeted as he stepped off the plane by President Trump, invited to walk the red carpet with him to the American president's limousine and then invited inside, the Russian president clearly appreciated these gestures. To express his gratitude to Trump, he echoed two grievances dear to the Republican president: that the 2020 presidential election, won by Joe Biden, was fraudulent, and that the war in Ukraine would never have started if Trump had been president. As for the rest, while describing the meeting as very "productive" and on "the path to peace in Ukraine," Putin merely reiterated, during a brief joint appearance before the press, the "underlying causes" of his conflict with Ukraine. The talks lasted just over two and a half hours, whereas the Kremlin had planned for "six to seven hours" of discussions. The scheduled lunch did not take place, journalists were not allowed to ask questions and the exchanges apparently did not touch on commercial or economic matters, nor on arms control – contrary to Moscow's wishes. For his part, Trump showered "Vladimir" with praise, calling him "a strong guy (...) tough as hell." He spoke of a "very productive" meeting where there were "many points that we agreed on," except for one, "probably the most significant," which he did not specify. The American president, who had threatened Russia just a few days earlier with "very severe consequences" if it failed to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine, stated on Fox News on Friday that the question of new sanctions was not under consideration for the time being, but that he might have to think about it in two or three weeks. In light of this lack of results, the ball is now in the Europeans' court. On Saturday morning, Trump briefed them, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on his discussions and the points of agreement he mentioned. Even before speaking to them, he offered this advice to Zelensky on Fox News after the summit: "Make a deal!" From the way Putin and Trump presented matters in Anchorage, it can be inferred that the proposed "deal" is not in Kyiv's favor. Echoing Trump, Putin said he hoped the Europeans "won't throw a wrench in the works and not make any attempts to use some backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the progress." Keen not to miss any chance to end the war, the Ukrainian president nonetheless responded positively to the idea of a three-way meeting with Putin and Trump, and decided to travel to Washington on Monday to discuss it. The scenario Europeans have feared – a settlement hashed out behind their backs by the Russian and American leaders – cannot be ruled out. However, unlike Trump, Putin acknowledged that they, together with Kyiv, have cards to play. The time has come to use them, and to do so with resolve.
France 24
8 hours ago
- France 24
In high-stakes summit, Trump, not Putin, budges
In the end, it looks like it was Trump, not Putin, who budged. Putin, visibly delighted as he stepped foot in the West for the first time since ordering the 2022 invasion, made no apparent concession at the talks at an Alaska air base. In a brief joint media appearance with Trump, who unusually took no questions, Putin again spoke of addressing the "root causes" of the Ukraine war and warned Kyiv and Europeans against disrupting "emerging progress" with the United States, the top defender of Ukraine under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden. Trump, who bills himself as a master negotiator, acknowledged there was "no deal" but said there were "very few" areas of disagreement, although he was vague on what they were. But posting hours later on his Truth Social account, Trump said he wanted Russia and Ukraine to "go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war" and not a ceasefire. Trump's own administration had been pushing a ceasefire for months, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signing on after intense pressure from Trump. Putin had repeatedly rejected truce offers and kept up attacks on Ukraine, seeking to maximize battlefield advantage. Putin again woos Trump Trump had vowed to be firm with Putin after wide criticism of the US president's cowed appearance before him at a 2018 summit in Helsinki. But Putin again found ways to flatter and trigger Trump, who in his second term constantly speaks unprompted about his many grievances. Putin told Trump before the cameras that there would have been no war -- which Putin himself launched -- if Trump were president in 2022 rather than Biden, a frequent Trump talking point. Trump bemoaned the effect on ties with Putin of what he again called the "hoax" of the findings by US intelligence that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help him. In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity after the summit, Trump said that "one of the most interesting things" Putin told him was about... the US voting system. Trump said approvingly that Putin -- who has held power in Russia since 2000 and was declared the winner of elections last year with 88 percent of the vote -- told him of the risks of mail-in ballots and said of Trump's 2020 loss to Biden, "You won that election by so much." US election authorities and experts have found no evidence of wide-scale fraud from mail-in ballots in the 2020 election, which Trump, uniquely in US history, refused to concede. 'Shameful' or wait and see? Trump's Democratic rivals voiced outrage that the summit secured no breakthrough and said it only served to normalize Putin, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. "By quite literally rolling out the red carpet, Trump has legitimized Russia's aggression and whitewashed Putin's war crimes. It's shameful," said Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Experts said it was too early to write off the summit completely, as much is not known about what was discussed behind closed doors. Trump will meet Zelensky on Monday at the White House. Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, which backs US restraint, said that Trump's critics have been proven wrong in saying he would "give Ukraine to Putin or force Kyiv to accept surrender." "His focus has been and remains getting Putin to the negotiating table. Mr. Trump deserves credit rather than condemnation for his efforts so far," she said. But Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, said an initial read was that "Putin scored a victory by showing up, and Trump's limited words and tense demeanor left Putin to control the narrative." "For a man so attached to showmanship, Trump unusually allowed Putin to be the star of what should have been the Trump show," she said.
