Trump-Putin meeting evokes mixed reaction with key issues unresolved
The first one-on-one meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has evoked mixed reactions from global experts, who highlighted its positive meaning while pointing out the difficulty addressing major problems between the world’s two largest nuclear powers.
Trump’s expectations going into the meeting were essentially to improve relations with Russia and to establish a rapport with Putin, and “based on the performance of both presidents at the post-summit press conference, it appears he succeeded,” Daniel L. Davis, a retired US army officer and currently a defense expert at Defense Priorities, a think tank, told Xinhua. “No one wins a nuclear war, and thus Trump is taking prudent steps to increase understanding and establishing lines of communication between the two to keep the danger of future nuclear war low,” he said.
Dmitry Suslov, an expert at the Moscow-based Valdai Discussion Club, said the meeting is “of great importance” given the current state of Russia-US relations, which has reached a “threatening point” over the past year and a half.
“This meeting should be considered as laying the foundation for further Russia-US dialogue on a number of issues,” Suslov said.
For former Indian diplomat Sheel Kant Sharma, the meeting came as a relief for his country, which was caught between the two global powers and their souring ties. “Over the last five to six years, ever since the event in Ukraine and Crimea, suddenly Putin’s relationship with the US and Europe has come into a cloud...” he said, noting that US sanctions have cast a shadow on India’s planned defense purchase worth billions of dollars from Russia.
The expert hopes the meeting will help improve US-Russia relations and have a positive impact on India.
Although the summit was described by Trump as “very constructive” and by Putin as “first important step,” experts said that major differences between the two sides still prevail and would remain difficult to resolve.
William Courtney, a former US ambassador and now a senior fellow at RAND Corporations, noted that the two sides have not issued a joint statement concerning major contentious issues in their relationship. “It was not apparent that significant progress was made, or even that all of these issues were addressed in detail,” he told Xinhua.
He added that perhaps the Trump administration did not want a statement with Putin that “could be vulnerable to political fire, especially in the Congress.”
Despite a promising tone, the two leaders both acknowledged problems remain in Syria, Ukraine and Crimea, among others.
Davis said that it has been difficult for the US to make advancements on the Crimea issue. “US interests must come before our preferred political outcome on Ukraine and Crimea, and we gain little by pressing Russia to meet our preferences on a matter they are clearly not going to give in on,” Davis said.
Suslov said the main obstacle that will impede the improvement of RussiaUS relations for the coming months is the “politicization” of the alleged Russian interference in the US elections.
Trump’s reconciliatory tone with Putin on the issue at their joint press conference has already sparked wide criticism. Republican Senator John McCain accused Trump of “not only unable, but unwilling to stand up to Putin.”
Another barrier to improving bilateral ties is the simple fact that Russia and the US are not global allies, Suslov said.