For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the summit with President Trump has ended Russia’s international isolation and validated Moscow’s claim that the war in Ukraine can be ended without Kyiv, according to a leading analyst of Russia affairs.
Paul Goble, a longtime specialist on Soviet and Russian affairs and former adviser to the State Department and CIA, said he based the analysis on comments by Russian officials and state-run media.
Russian commentators said in recent reports that no matter how Mr. Trump responds to the Russian leader during the meeting on Ukraine, Mr. Putin will gain an additional victory.
Moscow’s spin on the meeting is that a peace deal will not be the focus but that the defeat of the West will be recognized, according to Russian propagandists.
Mr. Goble stated in a recent report that pro-Kremlin commentators “claim that any outcome of the summit will be advantageous for Moscow: if U.S. President Donald Trump refuses to accept Putin’s terms, Trump will not get the deal he hopes for, but if he does, the gulf between Washington and Europe will deepen.”
Driving a wedge between the U.S. and Europe remains a key strategic goal for Mr. Putin, he said.
Russia believes the summit will lead to ending the intense international isolation the West imposed on Putin following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Another factor is the location of the meeting. Alaska was Russian territory from the mid-18th century to 1887 and remains symbolically important to the Russians.
The summit also led Mr. Trump to delay and possibly cancel new sanctions on Russia.
A key highlight of the Alaska meeting is that Russian media speculate that Mr. Trump will accept Mr. Putin’s view that Moscow and Washington can make decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine, Mr. Goble said in a report published by the Jamestown Foundation.
Russian media reports, reflecting Kremlin views, have stated that the Americans understand Russia’s position and suggest Mr. Trump may seek a broader agreement that would hide Mr. Putin’s victory in Ukraine.
“If a broader accord results, Russian media suggests that Trump will spark Western comparisons to the Yalta Conference of 1945 or even the Munich Conference of 1938, strengthening Putin’s hand in his efforts to reassert Moscow’s status as a superpower as it was during the Cold War,” Mr. Goble said.
The analysis by Mr. Goble is based on dozens of Russian reports that have made these arguments in the past 10 days.
Mr. Trump said on Air Force One on the way to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson that he won’t be happy with the outcome of the summit if the talks do not produce a ceasefire in fighting.
The president told Fox News that he would be very disappointed and walk away from the talks if they are unproductive.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.