Trump cancels meeting with Putin as he heads to Argentina for G-20
Standoff in Ukraine a source of tension
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he headed to the Group of 20 Nations summit Thursday, citing Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian vessels as a source of tension in a relationship he has fostered in the face of criticism.
Mr. Trump tweeted his decision from Air Force One shortly after his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, revealed he had lied to Congress to cover up that he was negotiating a real estate deal in Moscow on Mr. Trump’s behalf during the Republican presidential primary in 2016.
The news ensured any meeting with Mr. Putin would spotlight the special counsel’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow during the campaign. Mr. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and on Thursday called Mr. Cohen a “weak person” looking for a reduced sentence.
The last-minute move kicked off a global economic meeting expected to be dominated by Mr. Trump’s seat-of-his-pants diplomacy. The Putin meeting — a continuation of a controversial summit between the two in July — was just one of a series of highstakes items on Mr. Trump’s agenda, which also includes talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on how to ease a rising trade war.
Although Mr. Trump had previously floated canceling the meeting with Mr. Putin, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters he did not make the final decision until boarding the plane for Argentina and speaking with national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The Kremlin said it had not been formally notified of the decision, which came hours after Moscow said the meeting was on track.
“I look forward to a meaningful Summit again as soon as this situation is resolved!” Mr. Trump tweeted from Air Force One after he temporarily upended his hopes of further cementing the relationship between the two leaders.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko praised Mr. Trump on Twitter, saying, “This is how great leaders act!”
Ms. Sanders also said two of Mr. Trump’s planned bilateral meetings — with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in — had been canceled. Mr. Trump will instead speak informally
with those leaders at the conference. She did not offer any explanation for those changes to the schedule.
The stakes for the sit-down between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump were raised this week by Russia’s stepped-up aggression in the Kerch Strait, stemming from its years-long occupation of Eastern Ukraine. Russia recently seized three Ukrainian vessels and crews. Russia said Ukraine didn’t have permission to pass between Russia’s mainland and the Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine insisted its vessels abided by maritime laws.
Earlier Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had told reporters in Moscow that the meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin would take place Saturday around noon.
Even as he denounced his former lawyer Thursday morning, Mr. Trump told reporters that he still planned to go ahead with his meeting with Mr. Putin.
“I probably will be meeting with President Putin,” he told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House just after 10:30 a.m. as he left on the trip to Buenos Aires. “I think it’s a very good time to have the meeting.” He added that he would be getting a report on Air Force One about the RussiaUkraine confrontation “and that will determine what I’m going to be doing.”
At 11:34 a.m., he reversed himself, “based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia.”
In response to Sunday’s events, Ukraine has imposed martial law in parts of the country. Mr. Putin accused Mr. Poroshenko of provoking the naval incident in a bid to impose martial law to shore up his sagging popularity and sideline competitors ahead of a presidential election in March. In an interview published Thursday with the German daily Bild, Mr. Poroshenko laid out his hope that NATO would “relocate naval ships to the Sea of Azov in order to assist Ukraine and provide security” against Mr. Putin’s expansionist ambitions.
The dispute continued to simmer Thursday. Ukraine’s minister of infrastructure, Volodymyr Omelyan, wrote on Facebook that Russia was blocking 35 ships from entering or leaving the Kerch Strait in a de facto blockade of two Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov: Mariupol and Berdyansk.
Later Thursday, Ukrainian border guards announced that all nonUkrainians will be barred from crossing into the Russia-occupied Crimea by land after martial law went into effect, preventing Russians from entering the area overland via Ukraine.
Tensions had already been high over the war in Syria and allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race. Mr. Trump has sought to improve the relationship with Mr. Putin, but was roundly criticized after the July summit in Helsinki for failing to publicly denounce Russia’s interference and appearing to accept Mr. Putin’s denials of such activity.
The G-20 meeting in Buenos Aires comes amid growing economic uncertainty and global displeasure with Mr. Trump’s trade policy.
The most pressing issue on Mr. Trump’s packed schedule of meetings is whether he can reach a detente with Mr. Xi over trade after months in which both sides have raised tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of each other’s goods, shaking financial markets and threatening the global economy. Without an agreement, the U.S. is set to increase the tariffs Jan. 1.
Mr. Trump’s visit will also put him in the same room as Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the first time since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The U.S. resident and prominent critic of the Saudi royal family was brutally killed last month upon entering the country’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, a plot that sparked a diplomatic row that cast the future of the U.S.-Saudi relationship into doubt.
U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that the Saudi crown prince, known as MBS, must have at least known of the plot. Lawmakers in both parties have called on Mr. Trump to, at minimum, avoid the young heir apparent as punishment.
But Mr. Trump publicly announced his decision to effectively give the prince a free pass in the name of “America First,” citing vastly exaggerated claims of Saudi military contracts and investments in the United States. The president also views Saudi Arabia as a vital counterbalance to Iranian influence in the Middle East.
While no official sit-down is scheduled, Mr. Trump has kept the door open to a casual meeting.