WASHINGTON, June 28, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – U.S. President Donald Trump said
on Wednesday that he will probably meet Russian President Vladimir Putin
during his scheduled trip to Europe in July.
Trump’s remarks came hours after Kremlin said the two leaders will get
together “in a third country,” with the date and venue to be announced
Thursday.
The idea of a Trump-Putin summit, floated for months, comes amid still
strained ties between Washington and Moscow, with little solid outcome
expected by experts.
PERSONAL DIPLOMACY
Following the announcement by the Kremlin, Trump told reporters at the
White House that he will “probably” meet Putin after attending the NATO
Summit in Brussels on July 11-12.
The location could be in Helsinki or Vienna, he added.
Trump last met Putin in Vietnam on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit
in November.
The announcements from both sides came after Putin’s meeting with visiting
U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton in Moscow.
Bolton’s visit reflected “the continued desire of the Trump administration
to improve relations with Russia,” Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and
director of policy at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and
Congress, told Xinhua.
Mahaffee said Trump, emboldened by his “negotiating successes,” felt that
he can move forward on meetings with Russia.
Trump has been seen as caring about maintaining good personal relations
with Putin while bilateral ties kept sinking due to Russia’s alleged meddling
in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the two countries’ diplomatic
spats, among other thorny issues. “Trump has great faith in personal
diplomacy,” Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Michael O’Hanlon said.
“Trump likes Putin and feels the United States should have close relations
with Russia,” another Brookings Institution Senior Fellow, Darrell West, told
Xinhua. “He doesn’t worry much about foreign meddling.
The investigation of alleged collusion between Team Trump and Russia during
the election in 2016 passed its one-year anniversary last month, with the
White House continuing to dismiss the claim.
So far, several individuals have been indicted as a result of the
investigation. However, none of the charges relating to U.S. citizens or Team
Trump has directly accused anyone of working with Moscow to meddle in the
presidential campaign.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he will talk about Syria and Ukraine
with Putin, as well as other issues.
But experts expect the meeting to yield little result, as the Washington-
Moscow antagonism is complicated.
O’Hanlon does not see any specific plan or agenda for the upcoming summit.
West said not much room has been left for negotiation, “given Congressional
hostility to any deal.”
“Both Republicans and Democrats will oppose easing sanctions and Putin will
not make any deal without that,” he said.
Last August, Trump signed a bill to impose sanctions on Russia that won a
sweeping majority vote in both houses of Congress. Afterward, the Trump
administration also unleashed a string of sanctions over Russia’s allegedly
“threatening” activities against the United States.
Earlier this month, Putin signed into law a bill which allows him to
respond to sanctions by the United States and other “unfriendly states.”
However, Putin said on Wednesday that Russia never seeks confrontation, and
he believed the icy relation was largely the result of the acute domestic
political struggle in the United States.