“Analysts warn: instead of peace, this could give the Kremlin time and weaken support for Ukraine.”, — write: www.unian.ua
Analysts warn: instead of peace, this could give the Kremlin time and weaken support for Ukraine.
Putin can buy time in negotiations with Trump / photo – GettyImagesUS President Donald Trump announced preparations for a second meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, this time in Budapest. This move caused concern both in Kyiv and among US allies in Europe, writes Bloomberg.
Trump’s first meeting with Putin, which took place in Alaska in August, did not bring any breakthrough. However, the American president, who once promised to “solve the war in one day”, has again taken up mediation – despite the warning of analysts that this can only strengthen the Kremlin’s position.
After a two-hour phone conversation with Putin, Trump said he was ready to “find a real way to peace,” but refused to comment on the possibility of providing Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles or introducing new sanctions against Russia.
“We need the Tomahawk for the United States of America as well. So I don’t know what we can do about that,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
At the same time, the Kremlin reported that Putin had warned Trump that any transfer of missiles to Ukraine would “cause serious damage to relations between our countries.”
Ukraine hopes that the Kremlin will buy timePresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy is planning a meeting with Trump already this week. Kyiv hopes that the American leader’s growing disillusionment with Putin’s behavior will prompt the White House to increase pressure on Moscow — particularly through arms supplies and energy sanctions.
However, analysts warn: Trump, it seems, will choose “a gingerbread man, not a whip.” He emphasized that he discussed with Putin the possibilities of post-war trade.
Historian Serhiy Radchenko from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies believes that a second meeting without pressure could be an “almost reckless” step:
“I see a lot of effort towards dialogue. But I don’t see maximum pressure yet.”
According to researcher Maria Snegova from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Putin is actually buying time:
“He is delaying the delivery of critical weapons to Ukraine and the implementation of energy sanctions that Trump promised.”
Summit in “friendly” BudapestThe upcoming summit in Budapest is already causing concern in Europe. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who maintains close ties with the Kremlin and opposes EU sanctions, called the upcoming meeting a “US-Russia peace summit,” saying that “Hungary is an island of peace.”
Trump, who has long considered Orban an ally of the MAGA movement, may perceive Budapest as “friendly territory” for negotiations with Putin. But for the West, this is an alarm signal: the summit in the country’s capital, blocking support for Ukraine, looks like a concession to Moscow.
Celeste Wallander, an expert at the Center for a New American Security, warns that if the meeting ends without concrete results, Putin will be able to “send a signal to the world that he is in control of the situation.”
The second Trump-Putin summitAs UNIAN reported, Trump announced yesterday that he had agreed to meet with Putin in Budapest. He did not specify when exactly this would happen, but added that the summit could take place within the next two weeks.
According to Trump, a meeting of high-ranking delegations of Russia and the USA will take place before that – as early as next week. On the American side, it will be headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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