Putin got a platform to reel off his familiar repertoire – Trump got his ego flattered. What remains of the Alaska summit are images that are likely to embitter the people of Ukraine in particular.
Anyone who has previously credited Donald Trump with exceptional foreign policy skills must now realize that, to put it mildly, this is not the case. The somewhat bizarre summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska was anything but the previously boastfully announced success for the US president.
Trump literally rolled out the red carpet for the Kremlin warmonger. He greeted Putin with applause and demonstrative warmth – as if he were meeting an old school friend after years. Finally, he boarded the US presidential limousine with Putin. A greater display of courtship could hardly have been possible.
In return, Trump received virtually nothing in terms of substance. He certainly couldn't announce a ceasefire in Ukraine after three hours. The fact that both reduced the joint press conference to a reading of statements and left without allowing any questions spoke volumes. Trump's body language and facial expressions spoke volumes, too. He had allowed himself to be humiliated by Putin in the best possible way.
Putin flatters Trump's ego
In doing so, the former intelligence officer simply resorted to his familiar repertoire. In the press room, he delivered a long-winded and questionable historical lecture, as he often does, in this case on the supposed Russian-American partnership. He also struck the right tone at a crucial point to flatter Trump's inflated ego—when he declared that the invasion of Ukraine would not have happened three and a half years ago if Trump had been president at the time. This is something Trump has always claimed.
What remains from the Alaska meeting are images that must embitter any decent person, especially the people of Ukraine. Those people whom Putin has been killing and torturing for years, whose children he has had abducted. Instead of holding him accountable, Trump has brought the pariah Putin back onto the world political stage without yet extracting any concessions from him.
Brazen behavior of the Russian delegation
Putin's negotiating position has thus been significantly strengthened, even before serious talks on ending the war have begun. But an end to the fighting is still out of the question for Putin at the moment – unless the so-called roots of the conflict, as Putin calls them, are addressed. In plain language, this means: Ukraine submits to Moscow, and NATO troops withdraw from Eastern and Northern Europe, which would expose the region to Russia's neo-imperialist desires.
The audacity with which the Russian delegation acted in Alaska, for example when Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was photographed wearing a sweater with the USSR logo, shows that Moscow may now feel even more strengthened in its stance.
Trump is unwilling to stand up for Ukraine
Ukraine and Europe were condemned to watch the proceedings in Anchorage from afar. From their perspective, one could argue that no deal is better than a bad one. After all, Trump did not rush into signing any concrete documents with Putin. And the fact that the meeting with the Russian side was cut in half suggests that, contrary to his assurances, he did not leave satisfied.
But that falls short. It has become clear once again that Trump is unwilling to advocate for Ukraine's interests. He has long had the opportunity to significantly increase pressure on Russia.
Now, a meeting between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington has been announced for Monday. This rightly brings back bad memories of the spring, when Trump shamefully dismissed Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Whether something similar can be expected again in public is unclear. However, Trump could very well increase the pressure on Zelenskyy to agree to a dubious compromise with Moscow. Either on Monday in Washington or at a possible three-way summit with Putin, the realization of which is, however, anything but a foregone conclusion. The horror scenarios feared before the summit in Alaska are by no means off the table for Ukraine.
