Trump and Putin, another handshake
New elections are approaching in the United States. These will largely weight in the domestic life of the United States and in foreign policy. Before fall, the ruler of the United States and his administration could face new accusations of another Russian collusion. Perhaps with this idea in mind, President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in Finland. Although the American and Russian heads of states talked about several of the most important world interest topics like security and peace, on the agenda of both leaders there was the issue of alliances with the West and the fight against terrorism.
The meeting was held under a contradictory climate, as a consequence of Donald Trump’s character and personality. If on the one hand he has a conciliatory discourse towards Russia, on the other hand he approves sanctions against Moscow.
Syria is another heat topic, of which both military powers have disagreeing points of view. It is known that the Americans want to overthrow Al-Assad’s regime, considered by the West as a tyranny that attempts against democracy, the Russians support the current Syrian administration. In addition, Donald Trump’s government has planned the withdrawal of troops and to exit from the conflict, while the Russians continue to develop a key role in Syria and have made the fight against terrorism their rallying cry.
Besides these common topics, the trade war with China and world trade was also discussed. "I think we will establish an extraordinary relationship. Getting along with Russia is a good not bad thing. The world wants to see us get along", Trump explained minutes before being face to face with Putin.
Trump admitted to the press that during the last period Russia and the United States have not had a clear relationship and considers this summit an opportunity to amend the situation. "[This meeting] is a great opportunity for the two countries that, frankly, have not got along very well in recent years", said President Trump.
The Russian leader, still intoxicated by the happiness of celebrating one of the best finals of a football World Cup, stressed out that it was time to talk seriously, about bilateral relations and the different points of tension in the world. "There are a lot, so that we pay attention to them," Putin said.
Russia and the United States are the two largest nuclear powers. Therefore, the cordiality between both nations is a longing that has existed for years, particularly, by many activists and politicians who fear the resurgence of a new Cold War. For decades, while Russia was part of the former Soviet Union, the world watched with trepidation the tension between the two countries.
"We own 90% of nuclear power and that's not good, it's bad, and I hope we can do something about that", Donald Trump told reporters at the summit. The Republican’s service record includes the achievement of the agreement with North Korea for denuclearization.
Although a possible agreement has not yet been publicly disclosed, it is speculated that Russia and the United States will establish common points for the reduction of the nuclear arsenal.
Before the summit several media and even members of the US Congress tried to tarnish President Trump’s image. Several accused him of being in Putin's service arguing the imputation against 12 Russians on charges of hacking the Democrats in the 2016 election to help Trump win the presidential elections.
The White House’s tenant twitted to those who tried to sabotage the summit: “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of foolishness and stupidity and now a witch hunt rigged”. According to Trump, members of Congress and some elites of the Democratic Party have been responsible of sowing the "Russian fear", but above all, of boosting pro-Russian suspicions to the members of his cabinet.
Before the meeting of the leaders, thousands of demonstrators gathered in the Finnish capital to repudiate both dignitaries. In several of the banners 'dictators are not welcome', 'Trump is the devil for the environment' and 'stop killing journalists' messages could be read.
Previous to his landing in Helsinki, the American president had already warned that he would always find negative critics to the celebration of such a meeting.
Donald Trump has become the fourth American president to hold talks with Russian leaders. Previously, but in the Soviet era, it was been done by Gerald Ford and Leonid Brezhnev (1975), George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev (1990) and Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin (1997). However, this is not the first time that both leaders meet. They did beforehand during the 2017 G20 Hamburg summit and the Asia Paci Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Vietnam.