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The meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin occurred on Saturday. It was, as likely intended, meant to be a big media event. It was also meant to draw out everyone with a stake in the resolution of the Russian invasion, but at the same time it was meant to keep them out of the only agreement that matters--that between the United States and Russia. As President Trump suggested "on Saturday Ukraine should make a deal to end the war with Russia because "Russia is a very big power, and they're not", after hosting a summit where Vladimir Putin was reported to have demanded more Ukrainian land." (here).
It might appear to scripted by the cognitive imperatives that drive both sides (or at least their leadership cores). It started with the expectation of the attainment of a ceasefire--with President Trump asserting his role (given the same result in other conflicts recent) as the President of Peace (see, e.g. my discussion here: "President Trump is the President of Peace" Reflections on the Power of Presidential Self-Revolution (自我革命), the Republic's Social Revolution (社会革命) and the Presidential Message: "President Trump Brokers Another Historic Peace Deal"). But that was not the intent, at least as the performance of the meeting played itself out. Instead, there was a suggestion of no deal (to get the audience deeply invested in what they had not really wanted in the first place--a temporary peace). That was followed in short order by a posting on President Trump's Truth Social site:
And now on to the second act of this three part mini-series--a hasty meeting with the State that will bear all the risk and suffer all of the direct consequences of a deal made on its behalf (because as President Trump suggested, Russia is big and Ukraine is not). That will be followed by some sort of entr'acte involving drama from the Chinese (quietly and perhaps aligned with US-China trade dealing), the Europeans (louder but in certain elite quarters with relief that the issue of EU and NATO membership may be off the table), non-state actors (even louder), but not the international institutional apparatus that knows enough to keep their heads down at the moment if they mean to be fed (with funds at least). And then the 3rd Act--which if this follows theatrical convention, will likely be disappointing, but will also provide some sort of momentary closure--lasting long enough to see the principal protagonists out of office. That may include some sort of settlement of the ICC proceedings that may find themselves no longer of relevance going forward (that would certainty be on the wish list of the Russian side, though they ought to be charged a reasonable amount for that deal, and likely to the Europeans).
One might glean a little more detail from the transcript of the Joint News conference held after the meetings produced by the office of the President of Russia and posted to the Presidential website. The English language version of that transcript (as prepared by the Russian side for general consumption), Joint news conference by the President of Russia and the President of the United States, follows below. The CBS version may be accessed here.
One might be tempted to note that the script for this drama appears to have been at least sketched out in its final form from the first days after the February 2022 Russian invasion (the second stage of the invasion, the first occurring in an ironic celebration of the anniversary of the start of the First World War in 2014) (On the Emerging Shape of the Allied Response to the Russian Invasion--'Trading Ukraine for the Rest of Europe': The View Now Being Shaped Through the Semi-Official Press?). Its architects, working behind and against the lofty speeches of the 2022-2024 era, in both Europe and the U.S., were already crafting a "partition of Poland" style deal that would be good for everyone except perhaps those sitting on land subject to shifting borders. But that is an old story in Europe, and especially in its Eastern territories. As I noted in March 2022, In the Marketplace for Sovereignty, it is Important to Price Well: Tracking Sanctions Against Russia. As the new imperial orders of the post-global become better established, one notes its layering--virtual territories grounded in trade routes and supply chains in and through old territorial states, physical borders extending from out of the metropolitan centers of empire outward as protection of the inner core and as a means of managing migration, and conceptual territories for the management of relations among the various levels of imperial attachments at the global, regional, and local levels. Ironically this is good news for Israel, whose claims on territories may be strengthened. And it is a further blow to the ICC, which appears (likely as hoped for by apex powers--China, the US and now Russia) to apply to second order states and not to them. It does provide a better insight into the ramifications of America First in a hierarchically arranged system of interactions--virtual, physical and cognitive. But that is a post for another day.
Joint news conference by the President of Russia and the President of the United States
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held a joint news conference following Russia-US talks.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, ladies and gentlemen,
We held our talks in a constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere, and they have proved substantive and productive.
I would like to once again thank my US counterpart for the proposal to come to Alaska. It is quite logical to meet here since our countries, albeit separated by oceans, are, in fact, close neighbours. When we stepped out of our planes and greeted each other, I said, “Good afternoon, dear neighbour. I am glad to see you alive and in good health.” I believe it sounds very friendly and neighbourly. Our countries are separated only by the Bering Strait — essentially, there are two islands, one Russian and one American, separated by a mere four kilometres. We are close neighbours, that’s a fact.
It is also important to note that our shared history and many positive events are largely related to Alaska. There is still an enormous cultural legacy preserved since the age of Russian America, with Russian Orthodox churches and more than 700 place-names of Russian origin.
During World War II, Alaska served as the starting point for the legendary air route that delivered lend-lease supplies, including military aircraft and other equipment. It was a dangerous and challenging route over enormous ice-covered territories. Nevertheless, the pilots and experts of both countries did everything they could to bring victory together. They risked and sacrificed their lives for our common victory.
I have just visited the Russian city of Magadan. A monument honouring Russian and American pilots stands there, adorned with the Russian and American flags. I know that here, too, there is a similar monument, and at a war cemetery a few kilometres away from here, there are graves of Soviet pilots who lost their lives in that heroic mission. We appreciate the efforts of US officials and citizens to preserve their memory. This is a dignified and noble undertaking.
We will always remember other examples from history when our countries stood together against common enemies in the spirit of combat camaraderie and alliance, rendering each other help and support. I am certain that this legacy will help us restore and develop mutually beneficial and equal ties at this new stage, even in the most challenging conditions.
As you know, Russian-American summit talks have not been held for over four years. That is a long time. This period has proved exceptionally difficult for bilateral relations, and, let’s face it, they have deteriorated to their lowest point since the Cold War. And this does not benefit either our countries or the world in general.
Obviously, sooner or later we had to remedy the situation, to move from confrontation to dialogue, and in this regard, an in-person meeting between the two heads of state was really overdue – of course, with serious and thorough preparations, and this work has been done.
President Trump and I have established very good direct contacts. We have had frank conversations on the phone multiple times. As you know, the US President’s Special Envoy, Mr Witkoff, has visited us in Russia several times. Our aides and heads of foreign ministries have maintained regular contacts.
As you are well aware, the situation around Ukraine is one of the key issues. We acknowledge the commitment of the US administration and President Trump personally to help resolve the Ukrainian conflict, and the President’s willingness to understand the root causes and its origins.
I have repeatedly said that the developments in Ukraine present fundamental threats to Russia’s national security. Moreover, we have always considered the Ukrainian people – and I have said this many times – a brotherly people, no matter how strange it may sound in today’s circumstances. We share the same roots, and the current situation is tragic and deeply painful to us. Therefore, our country is sincerely interested in ending this.
Yet, we are convinced that, for the conflict resolution in Ukraine to be long-term and lasting, all the root causes of the crisis, which have been repeatedly explained, must be eliminated; all of Russia’s legitimate concerns must be taken into account, and a fair security balance must be restored in Europe and the rest of the world.
I agree with President Trump. He said today that Ukraine’s security must be ensured by all means. Of course, we are ready to work on this.
Hopefully, the understanding we have reached will bring us closer to this goal and open up the road to peace in Ukraine.
We hope that Kiev and the European capitals will take the current developments constructively and will neither try to put up obstacles nor attempt to disrupt the emerging progress with provocative acts or behind-the-scenes plots.
By the way, under the new US administration, our bilateral trade has been on the rise. So far, it is a symbolic figure but still, the trade is 20 percent higher. What I am saying is that we have many interesting areas for cooperation.
It is obvious that the Russian-US business and investment partnership holds tremendous potential. Russia and the United States have much to offer each other in trade, energy, digital and high technologies, and space development.
Cooperation in the Arctic and the resumption of region-to-region contacts, including between the Russian Far East and the West Coast of the USA, also appear relevant.
Overall, it is crucial and necessary that our countries turn the page and get back to cooperation.
Symbolically, as I have already said, there is an international date line nearby, on the border between Russia and the United States, where you can literally step from one day into another. I hope that we can do the same in political affairs.
I would like to thank Mr Trump for our joint work and for the friendly and trust-based conversation. The main thing is that there was a commitment on both sides to produce a result. We see that the US President has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve, that he sincerely cares about his country’s prosperity while showing awareness of Russia’s national interests.
I hope that today’s agreements will become a reference point, not only for resolving the Ukrainian problem but also for resuming the pragmatic business relations between Russia and the United States.
To conclude, I would like to add the following. I remember that in 2022, during my last contacts with the former US administration, I tried to convince my former US counterpart that we should not bring the situation to a point fraught with serious repercussions in the form of hostilities, and I said directly at the time that it would be a big mistake.
Today, we hear President Trump saying: “If I had been president, there would have been no war.” I believe it would have been so. I confirm this because President Trump and I have established a generally very good, businesslike and trustworthy contact. And I have every reason to believe that, as we move along this path, we can reach – and the sooner the better – the end of the conflict in Ukraine.
Thank you for the attention.
President of the United States of America Donald Trump: Thank you very much, Mr President. That was very profound, and I will say that I believe we had a very productive meeting.
There were many-many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we have not quite gotten there, but we have made some headway. So, there is no deal until there is a deal.
I will call up NATO in a little while. I will call up the various people that I think are appropriate, and I will, of course, call up President Zelensky and tell him about today’s meeting. It is ultimately up to them. They are going to have to agree with [what] Marco [Rubio] and Steve [Witkoff] and some of the great people from the Trump administration who have come here, Scott [Bessent] and John Ratcliffe. Thank you very much. But we have some of our really great leaders. They have been doing a phenomenal job.
We also have some tremendous Russian business representatives here, and I think, you know, everybody wants to deal with us. We have become the hottest country anywhere in the world in a very short period of time. We look forward to that, we look forward to dealing, we are going to try to get this over with.
We really made some great progress today. I have always had a fantastic relationship with President Putin, with Vladimir. We had many tough meetings, good meetings. We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It made it a little bit tougher to deal with, but he understood it. I think he has probably seen things like that during the course of his career. He has seen it all. But we had to put up with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax, but what was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as a country in terms of the business and all of the things that we would like to have dealt with. But we will have a good chance when this is over.
So just to put it very quickly, I am going to start making a few phone calls and tell them what happened. We had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed to. There are just a very few that are left. Some are not that significant. One is probably the most significant, but we have a very good chance of getting there. We did not get here but we have a very good chance of getting there.
I would like to thank President Putin and his entire team, whose faces, who I know, in many cases, otherwise, other than that, whose faces I get to see all the time in the newspapers. You are almost as famous as the boss, but especially this one right over here.
But we had some good meetings over the years, right? Good, productive meetings over the years, and we hope to have that in the future. But let’s do the most productive one right now. We are going to stop, really, five, six, seven thousand, thousands of people a week from being killed, and President Putin wants to see that as much as I do.
So again, Mr President, I would like to thank you very much, and we will speak to you very soon, and probably see you again very soon. Thank you very much, Vladimir.
Vladimir Putin: Next time in Moscow.
Donald Trump: Oh, that is an interesting one. I do not know. I will get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening. Thank you very much, Vladimir. And thank you all. Thank you.
Vladimir Putin: Thank you so much.
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