New Delhi: The summit between US President Donald J. Trump and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin Friday failed to reach an agreement on ending the war in Ukraine. However, after the meeting Trump made references to agreements between the two, but gave no details.
For India, the Trump-Putin summit has seen the American President publicly indicate a softening in his stance on tariffs on countries purchasing Russian oil. On 6 August, Trump had imposed an additional tariff of 25 percent on New Delhi, taking its total
levies to 50 percent.
The American President had spent the last few days setting extremely low expectations for major outcomes from the summit. However, despite little clarity on the substantive discussions, Russian President Putin was given a red-carpet welcome by Trump at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. The Russian President even rode with Trump in the American presidential limousine, also known as the ‘Beast’.
“I believe we had a very productive meeting. There were many points that we agreed on, most of them I would say, a couple of big ones that we have not quite got there, but we have made some headway,” Trump said after the almost three-hour long meeting between the two leaders.
The American President added that he would be calling up leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to brief them on the discussions. “They are going to have to agree with” the outcomes of the summit, added Trump.
Putin maintained that the two leaders had reached an “understanding”, referring to Trump as his “neighbour”. The Russian President, in an effort to further engender good-will with his American counterpart, agreed with Trump’s oft-repeated claim that the war with Ukraine may not have started had he been in power in 2022.
“The situation in Ukraine has to do with fundamental threats to our security. Moreover, we have always considered the Ukrainian nation a brotherly nation…. Therefore, the country is sincerely interested in putting an end to it (the war). At the same time, we are convinced that in order to make the settlement lasting and long-term, we need to eliminate all primary roots, primary causes for that conflict,” added Putin.
The Russian President has long maintained that unless the “root causes” are dealt with, there can be no peace, a position he reiterated after his meeting with Trump. Putin acknowledged that there have been no summits between him and an American leader in four years—highlighting the perceived diplomatic coup he has scored with the Alaska summit.
Putin has been boycotted by the G7 member states since the current phase of open warfare began with Ukraine in February 2022. Western powers have focused on isolating Putin diplomatically. The Russian President has an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, and could be arrested by countries that are parties to the agreement. The US and India are not.
The Alaska Summit saw no representation from Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with nearly 30 international leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the build-up to the summit, to prevent a potential deal that could involve territory swaps.
The Russian President’s efforts to woo Trump seemed to have paid off in the immediate aftermath of the summit. The American President said to Fox News, that he does
“not have to think of” retaliatory tariffs for the next few weeks because of this summit.
“Now, I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don’t have to think about that right now. I think, you know, the meeting went very well,” said Trump in an interview to Fox News post the summit.
On 6 August, Trump imposed additional penalty tariffs on India due to New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil. The American President in the last week has claimed that it was these additional levies imposed on India that brought Putin to the table at the
Alaska summit.
The summit was an attempt by Trump to break the deadlock that has stymied his efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war. The American President promised to end the war within 24 hours if he was in the White House, last year, while on the campaign trail.
However, after nearly eight months in power, he has been unable to bring both Moscow and Kyiv to the negotiating table and find a compromise that works for both sides. Putin made no promises in his statement to the press, while Trump remains unclear on what was agreed to by both leaders.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: India talked big on Russia-Ukraine mediation. Alaska meet offers a window