The Helsinki Summit did not extend on burning issues



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The summit that brought together presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in the Finnish capital of Helsinki deserved, finally, to describe "the major event of the political season" launched by the ambbadador of Russia in Washington, Anatoly Antonov. According to more than one Russian commentator, one of the most controversial summits in the history of Russian-US relations will be one of the most controversial summits, with no clear agenda and leaving the dialogue follow the mood and personal desire of the president. In addition, a joint document was not published at the end of the document, although it took time to prepare it – at least on the Russian side – but the parties did not explained why she had been ignored. One of the most important elements is that the summit has not resulted in resolutions or agreements, since both parties have lowered expectations in the days leading up to it.

When the Kremlin announced before the US-Russian summit in Moscow, the Kremlin announced that the Kremlin had declared a "road map" to normalize relations, despite all the complexities surrounding relations between the two countries. Helsinki directly, that the Russian side looks forward to (19659002) Russian President Vladimir Putin is committed to listening carefully to the badessments of his counterpart, President Donald Trump, in order to better understand the positions of each party. A number of outstanding issues, and leaked Russian media and Kremlin close some details that accompanied the course of the in camera talks first, and then in the broader setting after the accession of the two presidents at the talks. According to sources, the US president has not shown much interest in the expansion of hot issues, such as Syria and Ukraine, and the first has addressed the issue of security , military coordination and security of Israel, ignoring the details of US policy. In the case of Ukraine has completely ignored the record of Crimea, speaking in general terms about the "Minsk framework" and the requirements for the stabilization of the ceasefire. On the other hand, he described China as a "common challenge" to Russia and the United States and treated the issue of relations with the EU from the point of view of commercial competition.

In the case of Iran, Trump was clearer and stronger. And the "threat" posed by the nuclear and missile capabilities of Iran. Later, signs emerged that the two presidents discussed the issue of preventing an Israeli-Iranian confrontation with some expansion. While the record of the Israeli-Palestinian colony was completely missed.

If the leaks are true or at least a part, the dialogue avoids raising major contentious issues, such as the Russian intervention In the US elections and accusations of the activity of the Russian intelligence services in Britain and Europe, the position of the continuation of military escalation between Russia and NATO in the border areas, as well as Russian policy in the former Soviet space.

– limited results … But the task of

Nevertheless, the remarks of the two presidents at the joint press conference at the end of the summit, That the dialogue was more comprehensive and deeper than the media leaks, although he confirmed the impression that the talks were not "difficult and complex" contrary to the expectations of some parties in the past. The two presidents were very pleased with the talks, and Putin said the meeting was taking place in a "constructive and positive" atmosphere, describing it as the first step towards "removing the rubble" from the talks. relations between the two countries. Putin also stressed the need to unify Russia and the United States in their efforts to address common threats, including the serious imbalance of international security and stability mechanisms, regional crises, the expansion of terrorist and transnational threats,. He said the talks reflected "our common desire with President Trump to reform the negative situation in our bilateral relations, to trace the first steps to address them, to restore the level of acceptable confidence and to return to the previous level of cooperation on all matters of common interest ". The most likely outcome would be the formation of a committee of experts on the normalization of relations between Russia and the United States, consisting of Russian and American experts, former scientists and diplomats. Putin also stressed that the two sides should present a package of strategic security and arms-reduction issues, adding that the Russian vision was based on the need to extend the validity of the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty and the The Russian President also stressed the importance of strengthening bilateral intelligence and security cooperation and said that Russia had proposed to the United States to reconstitute a joint anti-terrorism working group for to establish organized contacts between the intelligence services. "

Far from Putin's references to joint action mechanisms, he chose to start his press conference with an attack on" media and democrats "who" want to destroy important opportunities for dialogue on global issues "and in pledge to do what he believes to be "in the interest of the United States and the world despite criticism". Trump said that he had discussed with Putin a series of pressing issues of mutual interest for both countries, and "we have had an open and productive dialogue." "The constructive dialogue between the United States and Russia provides an opportunity to pave the way for peace and stability in the world," he said. "The differences between our two countries are known and discussed in detail with President Putin. "

The proposals for the creation of joint committees and working groups – although complex in the United States – are an important outcome of the Summit. However, in exchange for the satisfaction of Russian commentators on the outcome of the first summit between the two presidents, highlighting the need for the parties to progress on several axes to stabilize the positive atmosphere and face the strong objections of the two. America, Europe and the Atlas, The largest possible dialogue between the two parties in the diplomatic, military, security and business circles.

– The obsession with the Russian intervention

On the other hand, the reactions of the American elites did not raise the expectations of the summit. The dominant sentiment among Russian elites was that Trump's opponents would block all attempts to advance to Russia. Russian media do not hide the fact that Trump's performance and his criticisms of his opponents at the joint press conference with Putin have exacerbated the situation and fueled resentment, avoiding controversial issues with Putin and defended the idea of ​​Russian "non-intervention". "The rapid decline of Tramb's statements after his return to Washington to reduce the Kremlin's ceiling of expectations, at least for the short time to come, although the Kremlin continues to rely on the ability of the US President to overcome the current debates and to stabilize its positions.Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambbadador to Washington, said that it would be difficult for Trump to implement the agreements reached with his Russian counterpart because of the "strong resistance that will be found by the political establishment and the US media "to confirm that the final results of the summit

The ambbadador told reporters:" When badessing the prospects, we must be very careful and cautious , and repeat a word. "He said that because of the" strong mood "of some circles against the Tramp policy, Russia is afraid to say something positive about President Am.

These words faithfully reflect the mechanism that Moscow seeks to put in place. Although Putin came out at an extraordinary meeting with Russian diplomats after the summit, launching anti-democratic slogans in the United States, accusing "of promoting the lies and sacrificing the interests of millions of Americans for narrow political calculations, "That Trump as head of the executive will be able to cope with the attack of Congress and some media, and to initiate the implementation of at least part of the agreements with Putin. In fact, from the Russian point of view, the signals that followed the summit testify to the validity of this bet, especially the announcement by the US Department of Defense that the Minister James Matisse is ready to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Shweigo. In addition to the announcement by the White House to allow Russian investigators to interrogate US citizens on US soil, Moscow suspects that they have links to illegal activities in Russia, said Sarah. Sanders, spokesman for the US administration. But no commitment or commitment has been made by the United States. The president works with his team in this area. Putin proposed that US investigators be allowed to investigate Russian personalities accused of interfering in US elections in exchange for allowing Russian investigators to conduct a similar investigation into charges against Moscow

– Atlantic and European Union

Including government figures in Poland and other countries critical of the rapprochement with Moscow, expressed deep resentment at Trump's reluctance to present a clear public position against Russian politicians in Europe and the United States. movement of Russian forces on the border with several of these countries.Trump said that his summit with Putin "was more successful than the summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)" to fuel the fire in this direction.Russian media reported that the crisis with NATO and the tension in relations with the EU n & # 3 9 were not expected.Find a direct solution at the Russian-US summit, while recognizing that what Trump and Putin announced after their talks did not address the depth of the Russian-Atlantic crisis, at the same time. 39, with the exception of references to the discussion of the strategic security file. This worries some European countries, who fear the withdrawal of Washington from the deployment of troops and missile systems in countries such as Poland and Romania without sufficient guarantees of the Kremlin, which strengthens missile defenses in western Russia . Russian media were expecting this problem to remain one of the main complexities of the Russian-Atlantic relationship. The rapid pbadage of the Ukrainian file and the omission of the annexation of Crimea are fears that tensions in several former Soviet republics – including Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova – and tense relations between Moscow and Brussels are marked by growth rather than decline. Putin said immediately after the summit that "it is unacceptable for NATO to annex Georgia," promising that his country would take "steps to defend its interests and its security if this measure" was taken by NATO at its last summit

. – Iran … a controversial issue

On the Iranian nuclear issue, the two presidents acknowledged that the dispute still exists and have not highlighted during the summit any references to mechanisms likely to be the same. be brought together by both parties. In response to his country's badertion on the failure of Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Tehran on the grounds that "this agreement placed Iran under the best international control of its activities recognized by international organizations ". The region. "

The positions of the two sides have kept wide divergences, despite the limited understanding – as it appeared later – to prevent a confrontation between Iran and Israel." According to the director of the Russian Council for international affairs Andrei Kortonov, Presidents Putin and Trump agreed at their summit in Helsinki "to prevent any direct confrontation between Iran and Israel in Syria". "It is probably about 39, a buffer zone that will be declared on the Golan Heights and that the pro-Iranian forces will be replaced by government units in Damascus, "he said, referring to an" undeclared agreement. "If this understanding is true , it concerns one aspect of the dispute between Moscow and Washington over the mechanisms for managing the relationship with Tehran, which is related to the situation in Syria, however, differences over Tehran's regional policies and disagreement over Iran's missile programs are all elements that do not seem to have been the occasion of an in-depth discussion at the summit or, at least, are not reflected in subsequent statements. of both parties.

Since the end of the Cold War at the last Soviet-American summits that brought Presidents George HW Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev to Malta and opened a new chapter in relations between the two sides after the collapse of the wall of Berlin, Heir official of treaties and conventions that Aq [19659002] Notably, all the Russian-American summits since the first formal meeting in 1993 between President George HW Bush and the Russian President (who, then Boris Yeltsin) Is focused on the issue of arms reduction, which was almost the most important element that has long dominated relations between the two countries.He was at the top of the spotlight at the summit that brought together the president Bill Clinton and Yeltsin in Helsinki in 1997. The issue was dominated by the dialogue at the Putin meeting in 2001 with George W. Bush, Putin was in power a year earlier and a transcriptio In the expansion from Atlantic to East, the two presidents have made little progress.

But these issues returned to the highest level of attention during two successive summits that brought together Putin and Bush Jr., the first in 2002 in Moscow and the other in 2005 in Bratislava, the capital city. of Slovakia. In 2010, countries made qualitative progress in concluding the START III treaty at a summit that brought together presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev in the Czech capital, Prague. Obama's relations were strained with Putin, who returned to power in 2012, and the only summit they met in 2013 on the sidelines of the G-8 summit did not brought the two parties closer to the problems. Since then, relations between the two countries have deteriorated, especially after the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis the following year and, according to the parties, reached "the worst stages of history".

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