On the 14th, U.S. President Trump stated that there is a “25% chance” that his meeting with Russian President Putin, which will take place on the 15th in Alaska, U.S., will not be successful.
In an interview with Fox News Radio, he said that this meeting is “like playing chess.”
He said he believes Putin is willing to reach an agreement on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and if positive progress is made in the meeting with Putin, it will pave the way for a subsequent meeting involving Ukrainian President Zelensky. “But there is a 25% chance this meeting will not be successful.”
He pointed out that, if a trilateral meeting between the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine is held, there are three candidate locations, and “continuing to hold it in Alaska” would be the most convenient. The trilateral meeting may delve deeply into the “border issue,” which will involve “land swaps.”
At present, both Russia and Ukraine state that they will not make concessions on territorial issues.
Trump said that if the talks do not go well, he will push for a series of sanctions against Russia.
No Documents to be Signed After Russia-U.S. Presidential Meeting
On the 14th, Russian presidential spokesperson Peskov said that the Russian and U.S. sides do not plan to sign any documents after the presidential meeting. The leaders of the two countries will inform the press of the results at a news conference.
He told the media that the preparation time for the Russia-U.S. presidential meeting is very short, but all preparations have been completed. This meeting will discuss resolving the Ukraine issue, which is highly complex and involves multiple aspects.
He stated that one should not attempt to predict the outcome of the “Putin-Trump talks”; doing so would be “a huge mistake.”
Peskov emphasized that Russia and the U.S. are currently holding bilateral discussions to resolve the Ukraine issue. Ukraine’s opinions will be considered in the future, but not in the form of bilateral contacts.
He also said that the recent visit to Russia by U.S. Middle East envoy Wittkopf was productive; both sides “exchanged signals,” which facilitated the formal meeting between the two leaders.