The propagandists were not lying – Putin's isolation is over

As political scientists debate what the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin really ended with, whether Russia achieved victory, and what its significance is, Israeli defense analyst Sergei Auslender shared his insights.

An expert on the war in Ukraine and the Middle East drew attention to two strange details in the preparations for the presidential meeting and explained what now awaits European countries and warring Ukraine.

Following the presidential meeting, former Russian Prime Minister and President, currently serving as Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, released a statement on social media.

Unlike Medvedev's previous writings, which openly threatened nuclear weapons, and to which Trump himself had responded, the weekend message was exceptionally businesslike and specific.

"A full-fledged mechanism for meetings between Russia and the United States at the highest level has been restored. Calm, without ultimatums and threats," Medvedev described the results of the meeting.

He also stated that"the Russian president personally and in detail outlined to the US president our conditions for ending the conflict in Ukraine."

“The most important thing: both sides directly transferred responsibility for the results of future negotiations on the cessation of hostilities to Kyiv and Europe,” concluded former Russian President and Deputy Secretary of the country's Security Council D. Medvedev.

A similar message was spread by the head of the public relations department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, who stated that a red carpet was rolled out for V. Putin in Alaska, which clearly indicates the end of the international isolation of the Russian president.

"Oddly enough, this time it is completely true," Israeli defense expert S. Auslender commented on the propagandists' statements.

He reminded that even before becoming US President for the second time, Trump had repeatedly said that Russia's war against Ukraine was taking place in Europe, that it was a European matter, and therefore he could only help settle it.

Two mistakes of the US presidential administration: didn't negotiations start because of them?

S. Auslender drew attention to two details that could have led to the fact that the planned negotiations between the presidents of the two countries, Russia and the United States, never began, but only a meeting took place, which lasted much shorter than planned.

"Five days before the meeting in Alaska, US Vice President J. D. Vance stated that D. Trump wants his country to stop financing this war. Now think about it, two countries are trying to reach an agreement, the most serious negotiators are being used, and five days before the negotiations, someone reveals the most important trump cards. Because in this case, the second person in the state stated that the country does not want to allocate money to warring Ukraine. Knowing this in advance, V. Putin can manipulate his opponents however he wants," S. Auslenderis mused.

He also pointed out that another mistake could have occurred - a miscommunication within the US presidential administration. The point is that the version currently being discussed in analyst circles is that D. Trump's envoy in Moscow, Stephen Vitkoff, probably misunderstood V. Putin's conditions, and this error was later passed on to the White House.

"It's about a peaceful withdrawal from the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. Whether the translators mistranslated or he himself made a mistake, he understood it as a peaceful withdrawal of Russian troops from these areas, occupied territories. And this would mean that Russia loses the land route to Crimea. After all, look at the map, how the front is located and it will become clear how such negotiations will end.

When information that the Russians are planning to withdraw from the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, even though Putin has spoken about the withdrawal of the Ukrainian army, is conveyed to Trump, he decides to start negotiations.

"It seems that when he arrives at the scene, he finally sees that everything is wrong, that they misunderstood each other, so the negotiations are interrupted, followed by a short press conference without questions from journalists, and everyone goes home," the analyst mused.

How will this meeting, which the Kremlin is now so proud of and is happy that V. Putin managed to break the international blockade, affect further military actions in Ukraine?

Analyst S. Auslender predicts that little will change. Essentially, this is because US military and financial aid is now as critically important as it was in the first two years of the war. On the other hand, the sanctions imposed by Europe on the Kremlin regime are much more painful than those currently imposed by the US.

"It's hard to imagine Trump refusing to sell weapons to Ukraine for European money, it would be completely stupid," the Israeli analyst said on his podcast.

Europe must realize: the US is no longer a security guarantor, it will have to rely on its own strength

"Europe has already received a clear signal that the war in Ukraine is its problem and headache, at least until the end of Trump's term. And not only this war, but also the future confrontation with Russia. There have been signals indicating this before, so now is the time to take action. So far, only the Baltic countries and Poland have fully realized this," said S. Auslenderis.

An Israeli defense expert pointed out that Lithuania is increasing its defense capabilities, Poland is continuing to modernize its military, and there is still the possibility of purchasing weapons from the United States.

"Europe is already beginning to realize the scale of this catastrophe: the US will no longer be a security guarantor, but it is not refusing to sell weapons for the time being."

"Let's hope that these weapons will also be supplied to Ukraine. D. Trump spoke about this earlier: Americans do not want to buy and send weapons to Ukraine with their own money, and for European money - nothing against it. Here there is an opportunity to buy American weapons and detain the aggressor with the Ukrainian military forces on the territory of this country," the analyst mused.

Putin hoped to divide the world with Trump

Assessing the initial aspirations of the meeting participants, the analyst speculated that V. Putin probably hoped to repeat what happened during the Yalta Conference in 1945, to divide the world together with D. Trump.

And Trump's goal is to negotiate a cessation of hostilities so that he can later tell everyone that he was the one who stopped the war in Ukraine.

"There was no Yalta Conference here, and the meeting was essentially reminiscent of the 1986 meeting between US President Ronald Reagan and USSR General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik. No substantive agreements were made at that time, the two of them communicated, and it essentially marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War."

And the results of this meeting: the international blockade was broken, V. Putin was received by D. Trump and the two of them took a photo. The American side had essentially no achievements, only finally declared that it would shift the financing of the war in Ukraine onto the shoulders of European countries.

"From the American perspective, everything is logical. Why should we finance a foreign war, do it yourself. However, if the US also stops selling weapons (with money from European countries - ed.), it will be a difficult action to understand," said S. Auslenderis.

The Israeli defense expert concluded by stating that this meeting between V. Putin and D. Trump must become a clear signal to European countries that defense and the Russian threat are Europe's own business. Therefore, it is necessary to put aside secondary matters and focus on increasing defense capabilities, border protection, and the development of the military industry.