It was mostly pomp, huff and puff, B-52 fly overs, promises, Caviar and bald eagles, but the superpower meeting did yield a very tangible and clear conclusion. It was all more for them and much much less so for Ukraine, as Trump and Putin promised to deal effectively with key differences.
The Kremlin spokesperson statement made a lot of sense in that regard. ‘It was all very positive’, Dmitry Peskov said, explaining that the two leaders did not take questions because their remarks were exhaustive, so there was no need to expand further.
The Russian Ambassador in Washington further confirmed that the four hour exchange in Anchorage was mostly about smoothing out long standing edges between Washington and Moscow, disclosing that further talks will follow at diplomats level to solve such issues.
‘Another round of consultations to normalise things that cause tensions in bilateral relations will be held in the near future’, Dartsiev said.
Putin himself, according to reports, said he wanted a comprehensive deal, not a singled out ceasefire.
‘It’s a ten out of ten’, Trump said in his first remarks following the tete a tete, adding on ‘home’ network FOX that the meeting was ‘successful and very warm’ and reiterating that progress is real, with a deal depending solely on Ukraine. He further expressed hope that talks will lead to a respectable compromise, if that rings any Cyprus bells.
He did not rule out a trilateral with the Ukrainian President in the near future.
He then spoke to European leaders, who were surging for a Zelenskyy common front in the run up to the meeting.
The EU stated its support to the Trump peace initiative, noting ‘no compromises with Ukrainian sovereignty’.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be meeting Trump on Monday at the White House and one hopes that the ‘spare one’, if that may be said for a President left out of his own future, will not be treated as last time.
