World’s eyes on Trump, Putin as they meet with ‘no specific agenda’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday will be brimming with global intrigue, but the White House says there’s “no specific agenda.” So in the absence of a set list of topics, what are two of the world’s most famously unpredictable leaders to discuss?
Trump may be looking for some concessions from Russia to show he’s delivering progress and helping restore a productive relationship between the two powers. Putin would almost surely want something in return.
White House National Security Council and State Department officials have been reviewing possible gestures the U.S. could offer Russia, a current and a former administration official said.
Yet any outward sign of bonhomie between Trump and Putin would be immediately seized upon by the president’s critics and Russia hawks eager to show he’s cozying up to the Russian leader. The ongoing investigations into Russia’s interference in the U.S. election and potential Trump campaign collusion won’t be far from anyone’s minds.
The two leaders will sit down in Hamburg, Germany, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit.
A look at what Trump and Putin could address:
Election hacking
Trump has been reluctant to publicly and directly acknowledge Russia’s role in meddling in the U.S. election, out of apparent concern it undermines the legitimacy of his win. He’s also insisted there was no collusion with him or his campaign, a conclusion that U.S. investigators have not yet reached.
U.S. officials say Russia tried to hack election systems in 21 states and to sway the election for Trump, a level of interference in the U.S. political system that security experts say represents a toplevel threat that should command a forceful response from the U.S. Putin has denied all this. Irritants
Each side has a long list of complaints about the other that are impeding broader attempts to coordinate or cooperate on larger concerns. After meeting in Moscow earlier this year, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed to set up a mechanism to deal with these issues the Russians describe as “irritants” and the Americans call “the smalls.” But even that effort has stalled.
Russia’s wish list
Russia has been especially vocal about its chief demand: the return of two properties it owns in the U.S. that were seized by the Obama administration as punishment for Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The recreational compounds are located in Oyster Bay, N.Y., on Long Island, and along the Corsica River in the Eastern Shore region of Maryland
On Monday, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Russia had been remarkably restrained by declining to retaliate but that its patience was running out.
U.S. demands
The U.S. has its own list, topped by a resumption of adoptions of Russian children by American parents, which Russia banned in late 2012; an end to what it says is intensifying harassment of U.S. diplomats and other officials in Russia; and a resolution to a dispute over a piece of land in St. Petersburg that was meant to be the site of a new U.S. consulate.
Ukraine sanctions Moscow has long sought an easing of economic sanctions the U.S. slapped on Russia over its actions in eastern Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, which the U.S. does not recognize. Though there were indications that Trump’s aides entertained easing the sanctions in the early days of his presidency, his administration has repeatedly insisted that they will stay in place until Russia pulls out of Crimea and lives up to its commitments under a cease-fire deal that has never been fully implemented.
Given that Russia has taken neither of those steps, easing sanctions would require a major reversal by Trump and would infuriate Russia hawks in both parties. In fact, Congress has been pushing to increase sanctions on Russia and make them harder for Trump to lift.