US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday 15 August should not be seen as a victory for the Kremlin or as a concession to Russia. He believes the meeting will be of an introductory nature, during which Trump wants to make his own assessment of the situation by looking “this guy in the eye”.
Source: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an interview with Sid Rosenberg on the podcast Sid & Friends in the Morning
Details: Rubio said that Trump had not achieved the desired result in his phone conversations with Putin. That is why, he explained, the US President decided to meet the Russian leader in person to make his own assessment of the situation by looking “this guy in the eye”.
Quote: “For President Trump, a meeting is not a concession. If you watch some of the news – I don’t watch a lot of it anymore – but you watch it, and these people are going nuts. ‘Oh, this is – what a win for Putin; he gets a meeting.’ He doesn’t view it that way. A meeting is what you do to kind of figure out and make your decision. ‘I want to have all the facts. I want to look this guy in the eye.’ And that’s what the President wants to do.”
Details: Rubio noted that Friday’s meeting in Alaska will be introductory and “we’re going to know very early in that meeting whether this thing has any chance of success or not”.
He emphasised that Trump has a reputation as an “extraordinary dealmaker” and an “amazing negotiator” whose approach is particularly effective in face-to-face conversations.
Quote: “He has a tremendous instinct for deciphering human nature, so understanding how to navigate these things. I’ve seen it be very successful in these trade deals when he comes in and closes them, and they’re always in person. It’s hard to do that on the phone. So I think that’s what Friday is going to be about.”
Details: Meanwhile, Rubio admitted that the talks will be difficult, as “this war means a lot to Putin”.
Background:
On 8 August, Trump announced the planned meeting with Putin in Alaska on 15 August.The White House said that the initiative to hold a meeting between Trump and Putin during Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Moscow had come from the Russian side.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on 10 August that any agreement between the US and Russia must involve Ukraine and the EU. She stressed that a potential deal should not become a launch pad for further Russian aggression against Ukraine, NATO and Europe.Kallas said it is the US that “has the power to force Russia into serious negotiations”.
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