There were “agreement about war”, but the word ceasefire did not come after 2 hours and 40s of conversations
Igor Gielow-The expected summit between and Vladimir Putin on Friday (15) generated what both presidents called agreements about the Ukraine war, but the word ceasefire did not appear in the communications made by both after 2 hours and 40s of conversations.
“There is no deal until there is a deal. Great progress today, but we have not gotten there yet,” Trump said before reporters to whom the word was not passed after they interpelled Putin incisively at the time of the opening photo of the event.
“I will make some calls. I will call the allies of NATO, to [o presidente ucraniano Volodimir] Zelenski, to see if he agrees, ”he added, covering Putin of praise for his“ fantastic ”relationship over difficult years.“ We have agreed to several points, some missing, ”he said, with the stage with the words“ seeking peace ”in the background.
On the plane on the way to Anchorage, Alaska, where the first meeting since 2021 among presidents of the two largest nuclear powers occurred, Trump had said that “it would be sad” if the ceasefire he sought to pull out of Putin would not leave the meeting.
Apparently, the hours with the Russian cooled their impetus. No word in the interview about the “severe consequences” he again promised to impose on the Russians, in the form of economic sanctions that reach Moscow partners such as China and Brazil.
This does not mean that they are not ready to be applied, of course, but nothing has yet come. Still, Putin reinforced his usual points, saying that war is a “tragedy” between peoples “with the same root”, but it is necessary to work in the reasons of the conflict – his perspective.
Putin kept his countenance closed in his speech, and sought to insert Ukraine in a larger context, equivalent to Russia’s position to that of the United States as great power. In this, the summit delivered a great image gift to the Russian. It is likely that trade agreements and nuclear weapons negotiations are already on the menu.
Saying that the relationship between US and Russia was “at the worst level since the Cold War” in the management of Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, said that “we need to go from confrontation to dialogue.” “President Trump and I have a very good direct contact, we talk frankly,” he said.
Speaking of Ukraine, he just said that Trump and he “reached an agreement to pave the way to peace in Ukraine.” “The president has a clear view of what we want to reach. I hope today’s agreements will be the beginning of the solution,” he said, claiming to expect “Kiev and Europe not to try their efforts.”
The fact that neither Zelenski nor Europeans were present was not mentioned, as well as Putin’s main demand, already placed in writing: about 20% of Ukraine and the neighbor’s military neutrality, which wants to enter NATO, the US -led military alliance.
Before the meeting, Trump had said that it would be necessary to have a “territorial exchange” between rivals, although this only implies the putin of something that is not his own, taken from the beginning GDA that changed global security design in February 2022.
Trump had also condemned Putin’s recent offensives, saying that they would not bring to him the negotiating table. None of this was transparent in the anodines’ statement. Trump suggested that more to come and should meet Putin again, but did not mention the desire to join Zelenski to the group he had expressed before.
“We see each other in Moscow,” joked Putin.
The conversation marathon began at 11:32 am (4:32 pm in Brasilia). Trump asked to expand his first meeting with Russian, who would be alone with interpreters, including Secretary Marco Rubio (state) and negotiator Steve Witkoff. Putin then took the chancellor Serguei Lavrov and advisor Iuri Uchakov.
Two hours and 40 minutes later, the forum would be expanded with Russian ministers Andrei Belousov (Defense), Anton Siluanov (Finance) and the Kirill Dmitiev investment tsar on the Russian side. Already Trump also brought Pete Hegseth (defense), Scott Bessent (Treasury) and Howard Lutnick (Comécio), as well as CIA director John Ratcliff.
But Kremlin then announced that there would be the presidential interview of the presidents.
The meeting was the first among leaders among leaders since 2019, when Trump was still in his first term and both met on the margins of the G20 summit in Osaka. In all, they had six meetings before the Republican leaves the White House.
The visit itself was a victory of Putin, who since the invasion has been seen as a spare in much of the West for three and a half years. In 123 countries that recognize the International Criminal Court, the Russian cannot step at risk of being arrested due to a court order, which accuses him of war crime. USA, Russia and Ukraine are not on the list.
Trump, who has alternated approximations and threats to Putin since returning to power in January, has not sold the show entry cheaply.
Putin had to obey a peculiar ritual to get down from his plane while the American crossed a mall of advanced fighters from his rival and saw a bomber designed to attack Russia with nuclear weapons flying over the track in Anchorage.
With the memory of the 2018 summit with Putin, when Trump humiliated publicly as he bent to the Russian report about the alleged interference in the 2016 American election, the Republican sought to shot himself.
When greeting Putin on the track, after applauding him, he pulled him hard for himself, a body language of control. He also abandoned the encounter with alone, with interpreters, who would expose him to rumors of being influenced by Trump, adding two more witnesses on each side.
But it gave Putin a ride on his limo, something unprecedented for both and the only opportunity they were alone in a closed environment throughout the day.
The Russians, anyway, appeared satisfaction before the meeting. Lavrov made a public provocation to Kiev, wearing a mesh with the initials in the Soviet Union Cyrilic, a country that encompassed Ukraine until 1991 under the command of Moscow.
