Will we ever know what President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin said to each other for more than two hours in Helsinki on July 16, 2018? Probably not. They conducted this one-on-one meeting, without note-takers or collaborators, assisted only by two interpreters. Their joint press conference, afterward, revealed their differences, right down to their body language – Trump, massive, slow-stepping, with a willingly expressive pout; Putin, small and agile, leaping onto the dais, his face inscrutable. At the same time, it also showed a certain understanding, in their refusal to let themselves be imposed in the narrative of those liberal elites they detest.
The narrative, at the time, was one of collusion between Russian intelligence and Trump's inner circle contributing to his victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. In the United States, a special counsel and the FBI were investigating. The subject and the denials of the two heads of state occupied much of the press conference until Trump finally admitted that, despite his confidence in the US intelligence services, "President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today." All too happy with this mark of respect, Putin added: "I was an intelligence officer myself and know how these dossiers are put together."
Nearly seven years later, Trump is back, Putin is still there, and their relationship remains shrouded in mystery. Yet it is on this relationship that the fate of Ukraine will depend in the coming weeks, as Trump has vowed to put an end to Putin's devastating war there. And the fate of Ukraine also depends on that of Europe, which does not know whether or not its American "ally" intends to involve it in an eventual negotiation.
Contempt for humanist values
The two presidents met five times during Trump's first term (2017-2021); they've phoned each other several times since, including after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to journalist Bob Woodward. Today, they are measuring each other again, in a world that has turned upside down.
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