Putin meets Trump: Are US allies worried?

European democratic leaders are worried that President Trump will snub them at the upcoming NATO summit in Brussels, but then welcome the tough Russian leader, according to the Philadelphia media group's website philly.com.

These concerns are justified because Trump harshly criticized allies at the G-7 summit of the world's top economies in June in Quebec, before lavishing praise on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their meeting in Singapore.

There is nothing to worry about when the two leaders of Russia and the US meet. Photo: AP

US allies fear Trump is willing to give in to Putin

In the upcoming meeting, Trump will be facing a former KGB agent whose strategic thinking and meticulous planning are in stark contrast to his impulsive and short-term-focused personality. So there is reason to worry about the concessions Trump might “give away” to Putin for free.

In principle, there is nothing to worry about the meeting of the two leaders of Russia and the United States, as such meetings have been taking place for decades. There are many important issues that could be included in the negotiations, from Ukraine, Syria, arms control, to North Korea...

However, there were worrying signs. At the G-7 summit, Trump insisted that Putin should be invited back to the G-8 meeting.

Recently, Trump also told the press that Ukraine's loss of Crimea was President Barack Obama's fault, a comment that made it sound as if Putin was "innocent."

Trump is even so confident in his negotiating abilities that he declared in a recent Fox News interview that “if Vladimir Putin were sitting next to me, I would ask, ‘Can you do me a favor and get out of Syria? Can you get out of Ukraine for me?’”

Putin's "intention"

Analysts say the focus now is on the Russian leader's goal in agreeing to a summit with US President Donald Trump.

“Putin’s realistic desire is to appear friendly, make nice statements about the importance of the relationship for world peace and agree to restore dialogue,” said foreign policy analyst and commentator Vladimir Frolov, who lives and works in Moscow.

Trump’s rise to power is itself a boon for Russia, and evidence of this is that he has long considered the Crimea issue an old one and an Obama mistake. That’s what Putin wants to hear.”

Putin understands that the US Congress and Europe will certainly oppose lifting sanctions because Putin has not backed down from intervening in eastern Ukraine.

However, Mr. Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of Russia in Global Affairs, said that President Putin wanted to understand Trump's intentions and way of thinking through this meeting, especially when he is an unconventional leader.

Speaking about the lasting results of the meeting, Mr. Lukyanov said that “no one dares to believe in an agreement with Trump.” Russia has witnessed huge differences between the strategic agreements it signed with Washington during the Cold War and Trump’s thinking.

For Trump, a deal is something that “solves a specific problem, and lasts as long as it is beneficial.” Mr. Lukyanov does not expect Trump and Putin to resolve any issues on Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Mr. Frolov was quite pessimistic about the Syria issue, a content that will certainly be in the upcoming meeting. He said that President Putin wants the US military to leave Syria (something Trump is also aiming for) but cannot accept the US request to convince Iran to also withdraw its troops from this country.

“Putin may give in to some of Israel’s demands, like moving Iranian proxies away from the Israeli border,” Frolov said, but Trump may be fooled into making unwise concessions like a hasty withdrawal of US troops, which would be seen as a “betrayal” of the Kurds and further benefit Iran.

Regarding arms control, experts say the two sides need to discuss issues surrounding nuclear weapons, but Mr. Lukyanov is concerned that Trump and his aides are not sufficiently prepared for this topic.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US National Security Advisor John Bolton. Photo: AP.

“Trump is completely out of touch with this strategic issue and doesn’t listen to anyone’s advice,” he said. “Russia is clearly the expert on this issue.”

Both Frolov and Lukyanov believe that President Putin will achieve the most from the meeting by putting Russia on a superpower footing, sitting on an equal footing with the US. These gains will be even greater if Trump argues with NATO allies before welcoming Putin.

“Obviously the Russians would be happy because it would make NATO less important,” Mr. Frolov said.

Observers say Putin is unlikely to make major concessions on the Ukraine crisis or other sensitive issues, making it difficult for Washington to find an excuse to ease sanctions.

The Eurasia Group policy research institute commented: "The Trump-Putin meeting may temporarily ease US-Russia tensions, but the US will likely still impose new sanctions"./.