The Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin’s summit has strengthened the Russian dictator. The meeting between the US and Russian presidents in Alaska only bolstered the Kremlin’s position and prolonged the war in Ukraine, Foreign Affairs reports.
Initially, Trump claimed he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. But eight months later, and after at least six calls with Putin, Trump’s peace initiatives resulted only in Russia intensifying strikes on civilians and the number of dead civilians. Today, Russian forces killed 24 elderly people in Donetsk Oblast who were standing in line for their pensions. How the US plans to end the war and hold Russia accountable for this atrocity remains unclear.
Since Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, which altered the world order by forcibly changing the borders of a sovereign country, Putin has played the long game. The Alaska summit gave him even more time and strengthened his position to achieve a military victory in a war of attrition against Ukraine.
The summit was never about peace in Ukraine
Its real purpose was to bend the international system to Moscow’s will and maintain a monopoly on power domestically.
Putin emerged victorious in Alaska
Putin has faced little opposition to the Alaska visit. A Russian Levada Center survey showed that 79% of Russians considered the summit a success for Putin, and 51% were more optimistic about improved relations with the US.
“After the summit, Russian media did not have to put out false pronouncements to highlight Putin’s diplomatic triumph,” the report says.
Legitimizing aggression against Ukraine
The summit allowed Putin to legitimize Moscow’s claims. Russians who doubted the war’s purpose now had grounds to consider the invasion “just.”
During the Anchorage meeting, the dictator emphasized Russia’s “legitimate concerns,” its pursuit of a “fair security balance in Europe and the world,” and the need to “remove all root causes” of the war in Ukraine.
Trump did not refute any claims, effectively agreeing with Putin’s position on Moscow’s right to influence Ukraine’s territorial integrity and Western security guarantees.
“Putin flew home having demonstrated to his subjects that he was right all along, that they must not waver, and that he will win for them,” the report concludes.