Washington (AP) – Donald Trump’s Summit Vladimir Putin In Alaska, it could be a critical moment for both the war in Ukraine on Friday and the unusual relationship between the US leaders with his Russian counterparts.
Trump has long boasted that he has been doing well with Putin, even speaking in praise of him, even praised him as “pretty smart” to invade Ukraine. However, in recent months he has expressed his dissatisfaction with Putin, threatening more sanctions against his country.
At the same time, Trump provided a contradictory message about his expectations for the Summit. He called it a “really touch-taking encounter” to measure openness to a ceasefire if Putin refuses to end the war, but also warned of “very serious consequences.”
For Putin, Friday’s meeting is a chance to repair Trump’s relationship with Inorasi in quarantine in the western part of his country after the invasion of Ukraine three and a half years ago. He is open about his desire to rebuild US-Russia relations as Trump returns to the White House.
The White House has rejected the proposal that Trump’s consent to sit with Putin is a victory for the Russian leader. However, critics suggest that the conference gives Putin the opportunity to hear Trump’s detriment to Ukraine, That leader was removed from the summit.
“I think this is a huge mistake. You don’t need to invite Putin into the US soil and hear that he knows what he wants,” said Ian Kelly, a retired career foreign affairs officer who served as US ambassador for Georgia during Obama and the first Trump administration.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham South Carolina’s longtime Russian hawk and close allies of Trump have expressed optimism for the summit.
“I have all the confidence in the world that the President is going to go to meet Putin from his position of strength and that Europe and Ukrainians are looking for what is necessary to end this war with honor,” Graham wrote on social media.
Looking back at the ups and downs of Trump-Putin’s relationship:
Russia questions during the 2016 campaign
A few months before he was first elected, Trump questioned the discovery from the US intelligence agency that Russian hackers had stole emails from Democrats, including his opponents. Hillary Clintonand released them to hurt her campaign and boost Trump’s.
With his 2016 appearance, he shockedly called on Russian hackers to find an email that Clinton reportedly deleted.
“Russia, if you’re listening,” Trump said, “I hope you can find 30,000 emails you’re missing.”
Questions about his relationship with Russia drove most of his first term, touching on investigations by the Justice Department and Congress, leading to the appointment of Robert Mueller, who secured multiple convictions against Trump’s aides and allies, but failed to establish evidence of criminal conspiracy between Moscow and the Trump campaign.
Recently, Trump has described the Russian investigation as an affinity shared by him and President Putin.
“Putin went through a lot of hell with me,” Trump said earlier this year. “He went through a fake witch hunt using him and Russia. Have you heard of that deal?”
In 2019, President Putin laughed at the investigation and its ultimate discovery, saying, “The mountains gave birth to mice.”
“He just said it’s not Russia.”
Trump met with Putin six times during his first term. 2018 Summit in Helsinkisurprised the world by appearing to be on the side of America’s enemies over the question of whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
“I have great confidence in my intelligent people, but I will tell you that Putin was very strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said. “He said it’s not Russia. I’d say this: I can’t see any reason why it would happen.”
Faced with a hard blowTrump tried to return the full comment 24 hours later. However, he questioned the reversal, saying that other countries may have interfered too.
Putin called Helsinkisumit the “beginning of the road” from Western efforts to isolate Russia. He also revealed that Trump wanted to win in 2016.
“Yes, he talked about normalizing relations between Russia and the US, so I wanted to win,” Putin said. “Isn’t it natural to feel sympathy for those who want to build a relationship with our country?”
Trump calls Putin “pretty smart” after the invasion of Ukraine
The two leaders maintained a friendly relationship after Trump left the White House in 2021 under protests.
After Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, Trump has described Russian leaders positively.
“I mean, he’s taking over the country with $2 worth of sanctions, which I think is pretty smart,” Trump said at his Mar Lago resort. In a radio interview that week, he suggested that Putin go to Ukraine to “become a peacekeeping force.”
Trump has repeatedly said that the Ukrainian invasion would never have happened had it been in the White House.
“If he had been president, he had not stolen victory from him in 2020, he could not oppose him that the crisis that emerged in Ukraine in 2022 could have been avoided,” he said.
Trump also repeatedly boasted that he could “satise” the battle within 24 hours.
Through many of his campaigns, Trump criticized the US support for Ukraine and deposed the Ukrainian president. Volodymyr Zelenskyy As a “salesman” to persuade Washington to provide arms and funding his country.
Reconsidering the relationship
Once he became president, Trump stopped claiming that he would resolve the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. In March, when he said it, he said, “It’s a bit ironic.”
Since the early days of Trump’s second term, Putin has been calling for a summit while trying to pivot from the Ukrainian conflict by highlighting the prospect of launching joint US economic projects such as other issues.
“Based on today’s reality, it would be better to meet and have a gentle conversation about all the issues that both the US and Russia are of interest,” Putin said in January.
Things looked favorable to Putin when Trump exploded with Zelenskyy in the White House in February and accused him of “disrespectful.”
In late March, when Trump said he wanted a ceasefire, “I don’t think he’ll go back to what he says.”
But a month later, as the Russian strike escalates, Trump posted the masses, Personal petition for his social media account: “Vladimir, stop!”
He began to speak more frustration to the Russian leaders, and he said, “I’m just banging me.” In May, he wrote Putin on social media. “It’s definitely crazy!”
Earlier this month, Trump ordered the relocation of two US nuclear submarines Based on a “very provocative statement” from the country’s former president Dmitry Medvedev.
Trump’s voice protests about Putin have eased somewhat since he announced the meeting, but there are also his predictions about what he might achieve.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump described the upcoming summit as a “really pleasant meeting” instead of an opportunity to ultimately “settle” the conflict.
“I think that’s a good thing,” Trump said. “But that could be bad.”
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Isachenkov was reported from Moscow. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
