The meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has concluded, but discussions on various points continue. This meeting was considered even more historic due to Putin’s visit to America after ten years. However, the results were disappointing despite high expectations.
Even after approximately three hours of talks, no concrete agreement could be reached on the Ukraine war. Moreover, both leaders concluded the press conference in 12 minutes without answering media questions. The Trump-Putin talks made it clear that dialogue is necessary, but difficult. Overall, this meeting has raised hopes while also leaving new concerns. Let’s understand this in detail.
**Positive**
**First: Putin’s Return to the Global Stage**
The biggest highlight of this meeting in Alaska was that Vladimir Putin once again appeared to be making his mark on the international stage. After the attack on Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries had completely isolated Russia, imposing strict sanctions. But now, the comeback was directly with the world’s most powerful person, US President Donald Trump. Trump welcomed Putin not only with a red carpet but also with applause and smiles. This grand welcome gave Putin the moment he had been looking for.
**Second: Trump will again bat for Putin**
By welcoming Putin, Trump signaled that he is ready to do diplomatic batting for him. The message to America’s traditional allies, the European countries, was that Trump’s priority is to keep Russia at the negotiating table, even if it puts pressure on Western unity.
**Third: India’s Role and Trump’s Gambit**
The political and diplomatic signals of this meeting are also important for India, because before the talks, Trump made a statement targeting India’s oil imports from Russia. In a radio interview, Trump claimed that US tariffs imposed on India were the reason Putin was ready for talks. Experts believe that this pressure is part of Trump’s strategy to send a message to Russia through India. Since nothing concrete came out of the meeting, in this situation, America cannot target India again.
**Negative**
**First: The ongoing war will not end**
Speaking of negative aspects, the biggest concern is that the war will continue despite the talks. Failure to reach any agreement will keep the ground situation as it is and the suffering of the common people will increase. Russian President Putin wants to end the war with Ukraine on his terms. This may be one of the reasons that no agreement was reached from the Alaska meeting to end the war.
**Second: Lack of trust in Europe and America**
The second major concern is that the confidence of Europe and America’s allied countries will decrease. If America shows leniency towards Russia, European nations may feel that their security interests are being ignored. Before this meeting, Ukraine’s allies in Europe had emphasized that Ukraine should be involved in any kind of peace talks with Russia.
**Third: The challenge of balancing for America**
The third important challenge is for America to balance between Russia and Europe. On the one hand, Trump wants to improve relations with Putin, on the other hand, he also has to take into account the expectations of NATO countries. Achieving this balance can be a difficult path for America’s foreign policy.
