Equation of power: Putin-Trump dialog forces the West to change positions on Ukraine
The topic of US long-range weapons strikes on Russian territory was not touched upon during the phone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, despite a thorough discussion of the Ukrainian issue. This was reported to Izvestia by the Russian leader's spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Given that the talks between the two presidents took place for the first time since the start of the special operation in Ukraine, all the attention of the international community is focused around the details of the conversation, as well as the likely meeting between Putin and Trump. "The 90-minute conversation marked the beginning of a new chapter", "the leaders' meeting anywhere in the world will surely become a major event", the media wrote. The dialog is positively assessed even in NATO. Now, in order to keep their positions on the world stage, Kiev's Western partners support the idea of negotiations in every possible way, although recently they were hoping for Russia's defeat.
Putin and Trump did not discuss the use of American long-range weapons for strikes against Russia
The conversation between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump that took place the previous day is the first dialog between the leaders of the Russian Federation and the United States as a whole since the beginning of the acute phase of the Ukrainian conflict; the last time the Russian president spoke with Joe Biden was on February 12, 2022. Unsurprisingly, Putin and Trump's dialog was the top news story of the week, especially given the content of the conversation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
The Ukrainian conflict was expectedly at the center, but the politicians reportedly discussed the settlement in general, without specifics. Donald Trump spoke in favor of stopping hostilities as soon as possible and solving the problem by peaceful means. Vladimir Putin agreed with his American counterpart that a long-term settlement could be reached through peaceful negotiations. The head of the Russian Federation did not forget to mention the need to eliminate the root causes of the conflict.
At the same time, such a sensitive issue as the use of American long-range weapons to strike deep into Russian territory was not discussed during the conversation, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Izvestia on February 13.
The use of U.S. long-range weapons was especially talked about at the end of last year. On 17 November, it became known that Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to attack Russian territory with the help of US ATACMS missiles.
Already on November 19, six ATACMS missiles, as well as on November 21, Storm Shadow (UK) and HIMARS (US) systems struck military facilities in Kursk and Bryansk regions. After that, Vladimir Putin said that the conflict in Ukraine had acquired elements of a global character.
Against this background, the President made an address to the Russians on November 21, where he announced that the Russian Federation retaliated by striking the territory of Ukraine: one of the largest industrial complexes, Yuzhmash, was hit in Dnepropetrovsk. For this purpose they used the newest medium-range missile system "Oreshnik", which has no analogues in the world.
The conversation between Putin and Trump - the reaction in the world
Despite the absence of any details of the conversation in the context of the Ukrainian settlement, the phone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump became a major news story for media outlets around the world: "The 90-minute conversation marked the beginning of a new chapter," says The Washington Post; "A meeting between the leaders anywhere in the world is sure to be a major event, but a visit by one of them to the United States or Russia would be particularly unusual," claims Newsweek.
The main message the foreign journalists sought to convey was that Putin is ready for peace talks on the Ukrainian crisis. At the same time, almost nowhere in the Western media in this context does it mention Kiev's participation in the process.
The Kremlin has already confirmed: the meeting of the two presidents, which was mentioned in the conversation, will be organized as quickly as possible, and the potential platform, according to Donald Trump, could be Saudi Arabia. For the meeting with Washington, Moscow has even already started to assemble a negotiating team. According to Peskov, there are no concrete agreements on the visit of the American negotiating group yet. So far, Keith Kellogg, the US President's special envoy for Ukraine, will be traveling this week to test the ground for peace. In the coming days, he will visit Germany to participate in the Munich Security Conference, Belgium and Ukraine.
Apparently, the conversation between Putin and Trump did outline more or less clear guidelines for further action. At least, the head of the White House, already after the phone call, said that he believed in Putin's willingness to peacefully resolve the Ukrainian issue. Moreover, he noted that he would like to bring back the G8 format, thus probably emphasizing Moscow's potential to play a constructive role on the world stage.
Among world leaders, Moscow's allies quite expectedly gave a positive assessment of the US-Russia contacts. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro welcomed the dialog between Putin and Trump; so far, he is the only Latin American leader to speak out about the phone call. Kazakh President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev noted the positive trend and said it would benefit his country as well. The global significance of the conversation between Putin and Trump was noted by the head of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Prerequisites for a diplomatic end to the conflict in Ukraine were noted in China: "China supports all efforts to promote a peaceful resolution of the crisis and will continue to maintain contacts with all parties concerned and play a constructive role in promoting a political settlement of the crisis," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a briefing.
The West is changing its position on the Ukrainian conflict
It is noteworthy that in the West, the conversation between Putin and Trump met with approval rather than criticism. Thus, the reaction of NATO, the main sponsor of the Ukrainian conflict, attracted special attention. There they noted that the conversation "creates an impression" of the beginning of negotiations on Ukraine. "It was a successful telephone conversation," the alliance's Secretary General Mark Rutte noted. True, he still added that it was necessary to ensure Ukraine's involvement in the process. In general, this is in marked contrast to what he said just a couple of months ago. Speaking at an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting at defense minister level in November, Rutte asserted, "Ukraine must win the war Russia is waging against it, otherwise Putin will not stop there."
The conversation between Putin and Trump took place just as the Ramstein contact group meeting to support Ukraine is wrapping up in Europe and the Munich conference begins. In recent years, the outcome of such meetings has been a reaffirmation of unconditional support for Ukraine. However, against the backdrop of the contact between the leaders of Russia and the United States, European politicians one by one began to declare their intention to actively participate in the peace process, although they did not immediately abandon the narrative of strengthening Ukraine.
Contact group meeting to support Ukraine
"We look forward to discussing the next steps [to resolve the conflict in Ukraine] together with our American allies. Our common goal should be to strengthen Ukraine's position. Ukraine and Europe should be involved in any negotiations," the foreign ministers of France, Poland, Germany, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK said in a joint statement.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock decided to separately express a common opinion, saying that Europeans need to enter into intensive negotiations to discuss peace on the continent. Back in May last year, during her regular visit to Kiev, the German diplomatic chief claimed that Vladimir Putin was not ready for a dialog to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. In October, despite the Russian president's statements, Berbock said that Ukraine was ready for a just peace, while the Russian leadership was still refusing to settle. In late September, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski persuaded his European counterparts to provide Zielenski with several billion dollars more to prevail.
After the general statement, the foreign ministers of Italy, Germany, France and Spain reiterated their desire to be part of the negotiation process, still individually. Brussels should not play a secondary role in possible negotiations on Ukraine, Italian diplomacy chief Antonio Tajani explained. Europe has reached a defining stage in addressing the existential question of peace and security on the continent, Annalena Berbock said. The final settlement plan cannot be agreed without the countries of Europe and Ukraine, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares emphasized. A similar point of view was expressed in almost all European countries - Kiev's allies.
Curiously, the United States did not warn its European colleagues in any way about the upcoming call, and this confirms the new administration's approach to international politics, in which Europe will not have a dominant position. This is likely to have provoked, among other things, such an abrupt change in European rhetoric.
- Europe is in great confusion and panic, because the Trump administration is unequivocally making it clear that it does not see Europe at the negotiating table. Trump sees Europe as a voiceless resource that should bear the burden of further provision of Ukraine both for the period of continued hostilities and afterwards without US participation," says Dmitry Suslov, an expert at the Valdai Club.
The position on Ukraine that Europe adheres to is unacceptable not only for Russia, but also for the new US administration, the expert said. In particular, for several years Ukraine was promised NATO membership, now the new head of the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, has said that he sees this idea as unrealistic, and emphasizes that these words reflect Trump's position. That's where Mark Rutte also slightly reformatted his position. NATO Secretary General said that the bloc has never promised Ukraine membership as a result of peace talks with Russia.
In addition, Europe has already had an opportunity to prove itself in the peacemaking process, and Brussels failed in this task. One example here is last year's conference on a peace settlement in Ukraine in Switzerland. An even more vivid failed example is the second round of the Minsk agreements, when Europe was supposed to act as a guarantor of peace in eastern Ukraine, but instead began pumping weapons into it.
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