Trump-Putin meeting: a handshake, but not a deal

A rolled out red carpet. Two presidents who get out of their aircraft at the same time. Thundering fighter jets in the sky of Alaska. And all of this in front of the cameras of the assembled world press. It was the spectacle that Donald Trump wanted. And so he began to applaud with joy when Vladimir Putin put on him.

Before the two men were lost in an intimate shaking of hands, Putin had won the first victory. The years of isolation from the West were over the moment he had set foot on the bottom of the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Anchorage. So here was the man who had sent troops to Ukraine three and a half years ago and was greeted by the President of the United States like a war hero who had returned home.

And it should come even better for him.

When the two heads of state came to the press after almost three hours of discussions, the words “Pursuing Peace” (striving for peace) were emblazoned in the background in large letters. But it quickly became clear that no deal had been reached. And a ceasefire that Putin absolutely wants to avoid is far from being in sight.

The announcement of the summit last Friday had already provided many question marks. A few days earlier, Trump had threatened the Russian president with sanctions, now he invited him to Alaska on American soil. Political experts from Washington to Kyiv broke their heads. Is a ceasefire imminent? What would a possible deal look like? And where is Ukraine with all of this?

But the closer the summit moved, the further the white house screwed the expectations down. We were no longer talking about a deal, but a pure “listening exercise”, as the US President put it. On the outward flight on board the Air Force One, Trump said that he didn’t know what a success would look like. It sounded: I recognize him when I see him.

As it should turn out, the success after the summit was as difficult to recognize as before.

Trump and Putin talks ran almost three hours when the hustle and bustle suddenly broke out in the press tent on the military base. The Russian journalists had been the first wind that the meeting ended. The reporters rushed back into the press room. In the morning it was said on the part of the Kremlin that the summit could take up to seven hours. So meant a shorter meeting good news?

The press conference started with a surprise: not Trump, the host, but Putin as a guest first spoke.

The Kremlin chief thanked Trump in Russian for the invitation and gave a brief lecture on the neighborhood relationship between the two countries. There is an “agreement”, he said with a view to Ukraine and quickly fell into his well -known soundtrack. “We are convinced that we have to eliminate all the main causes of the conflict,” said Putin, making it clear that one of these supposed causes was the government of Wolodymyr Selenskyj.

At this point, many hoped that Trump would now announce that there would be a specific agreement. A hope that the US President destroyed within three minutes. “We agreed on many points – in most, I would say,” said Trump, but without further executing. “A few important points have not yet been clarified. One is probably the most important, but we have made progress, great progress.” He ended with the meaningless sentence: “There is no deal until there is a deal.”

Trump also promised to inform President Selenskyj and NATO members about the status of the talks. Then he and Putin left the room without answering a single question of the reporters calling in.

As pompous as the summit had started, it was brought to the end. The questions that are most pressing were left unanswered. Above all, what progress the two heads of state really made – and how the end of the war on the end of the war in Ukraine continues.

The only opportunity to speak to the president again personally was the Fox news presenter Sean Hannity. In a short interview before his departure, Trump described the conversation with Putin as “a smooth 10”. “I think we are quite close to a deal. “At the same time, Trump emphasized that Selenskyj still had to agree. When asked what he would advise to the Ukrainian president, Trump replied:” Completed the deal. You have to complete the deal. “Russia is a” very great power “, the Ukraine is not.

Many Ukrainians see their worst fears confirmed. In Russia, on the other hand, the summit is celebrated as a complete success. Russian television channels showed Trump’s warm greeting in continuous loop. There is already talk of a “historical handshake”. The message here is clear: Putin is back on the world stage.

For Trump, however, it should be difficult to sell this summit as a success. The US President of Washington had traveled to Alaska for around six hours to create peace-and to get closer to his much-desired Nobel Peace Prize. He rolled out the red carpet, applauded Putin and even left him the first word. In the end, however, he has little more than the promise to see the Kremlin chief again.

“We will probably meet again soon,” said Trump at the press conference. Putin replied in English: “Next time in Moscow?”

“Oh, that’s interesting,” replied Trump. “It will probably bring me some trouble, but I could imagine that it will work.”