Putin will feel like he can “get away with anything” following his meeting with Donald Trump, an expert has suggested. Speaking after the Russian President’s landmark summit with the leader of the United States on Friday, Olga Tokariuk, Fellow, Democratic Resilience, said it is “bad news” for Ukraine that it was “clear from the [Mr Trump’s] statements that Putin had no intention to give up on his maximalist demands amounting to Ukraine’s capitulation – and apparently faced no pressure from Donald Trump to do so”.
She added: “It seems the onus is once again on Ukraine to make concessions and agree to an unspecified deal, ‘a comprehensive peace agreement’ mentioned by the US president. Instead, Russia, which started this war and shows no intention of stopping it, despite failing to achieve most of its goals, faces no increased pressure or new sanctions. Undoubtedly, Putin is coming back from Alaska even more convinced that he can get away with everything, and further emboldened to expand his aggression against Ukraine and Europe.”
It comes after the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that Kremlin officials “continue to frame Russia as in direct geopolitical confrontation with the West in order to generate domestic support for the war in Ukraine and future Russian aggression against NATO”.
Experts added that Putin strengthening relationships with Iran, North Korea and the China constitutes “a growing threat to Western security, and Russia is actively pursuing a global anti-Western alliance”.
The ISW also said that it “continues to assess that Russia’s military reforms, including the restructuring of the Western Military District (WMD) into the Leningrad and Moscow military districts (LMD and MMD), demonstrate Russia’s longer-term preparation for a possible future conflict with NATO.
“Russia’s ability to more quickly conduct large-scale call-ups will have significant implications for NATO and its ability to deter or even defend against future Russian aggression.”
Mr Trump has offered his assurances that US troops would not be sent to help defend Ukraine against Russia after seeming to leave open the possibility the day before.
The US President also said yesterday that Ukraine’s hopes of joining NATO and regaining the Crimean Peninsula from Russia are “impossible”.
The Republican president, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders held hours of talks at the White House on Monday aimed at bringing an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
