US expert: Trump-Putin summit is just a 'virtual photo op'

American experts do not have high expectations for the upcoming meeting between Trump and Putin. Photo: CNN

According toStephen Sestanovich, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank, said that at the planned talks on July 16 in Helsinki, Finland, key issues likely to take a “prominent place” include interference in the 2016 US presidential election, controlling the arms race, Ukraine and Syria.

The two sides have so far made little progress in reaching any agreement on the above topics, noted Sestanovich, an expert on Russia and Eurasia.

The alleged election interference is “an issue Trump will be forced to raise, given the emotional context of the American public,” said Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, a foreign policy think tank.

The US Justice Department charged 12 Russian military officers on July 13 with hacking the 2016 US elections, fueling a growing confrontation over the issue. The Russian Foreign Ministry later dismissed the charges as a move to undermine Mr Trump’s efforts to repair relations.

“A real deal is unlikely and politically risky for Trump,” Sestanovich noted, adding that the two sides may simply “look for new positions.”

Arms control is seen as “an easy win” at the upcoming summit, as both Trump and Putin recognize that the arms race between Washington and Moscow demands their attention.

Experts see extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) as a relatively easy move.

New START entered into force in February 2011 and is set to expire in 2021. Under the terms of the treaty, both Washington and Moscow are required to further reduce their strategic offensive weapons. The US insists it has fulfilled its obligations, but Russia says it cannot confirm this.

Trenin suggested that Putin and Trump should agree to launch in-depth consultations to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, Aaron David Miller and Richard Sokolsky - American international relations experts in their commentary wrote that stabilizing Syria could be an issue on which the two sides could potentially reach agreement.

As he told reporters on July 13 during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Theresa May during his visit to the UK, Trump did not expect much from the upcoming negotiations. However, the US President said, “you can achieve something very special.”

Trump sees the meeting with Putin as “another opportunity to demonstrate that he can deal with difficult foreign figures much better than Barack Obama,” Trenin said.

The sweetest fruit of the Helsinki summit, according to this expert, may be what happens next. “If the presidents agree to hold formal summits in their respective capitals next time, this will set the two machines in motion,” Trenin said.

However, Sestanovich commented that without concrete progress on any of these issues, the upcoming summit could be nothing more than a “mirage photo shoot.”

What is the scenario for the US-Russia summit?

(Baonghean.vn) - The historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place in Helsinki (Finland). Although the world is expecting a substantive agreement that sets the stage and shapes all global issues, ending escalating tensions, the prospect of any such scenario remains very vague.