Political analyst doubts Trump's willingness to listen to EU in Ukraine talks
US President-elect Donald Trump is most likely not to consult with European politicians on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. Against this background, the European Union (EU) may not be a party to the negotiations on the conflict resolution. Denis Denisov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia on December 13.
Earlier in the day, the publication Euractiv pointed to the EU's concern over possible negotiations between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine. It was noted that in Brussels expressed fears that Trump is set to negotiate "over the heads of Europeans."
Commenting on this, Denisov called obvious the fact that for Trump and his entourage, the EU is not a key factor in resolving the crisis. In his opinion, it is doubtful that the expectations of some European leaders that the US will consult with them and pursue a common policy on the conflict in Ukraine and relations with Russia will come true.
"Trump is too independent and perceives most countries in Europe as 'half-countries', not very established countries. And in this respect, he is unlikely to occupy his time with such, from his point of view, meaningless, futile discussions and dialogues. Of course, the EU may find itself on the sidelines of these negotiations, there is nothing wrong with that. The main thing is to have these negotiations," said the interlocutor of the newspaper.
Thus, he added that at the moment he would not link Putin's contacts with the settlement in Ukraine. According to him, the fact is that the "publicized" statements of Trump's team on the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict remain at the level of statements and news - there are not even key points that would become the basis of a strategy to resolve the crisis.
"Trump, his commissioner on this issue [Keith] Kellogg has no real proposals that could interest Russian Federation and Ukraine in order to already work out options related to the ceasefire and, most importantly, a comprehensive settlement of the crisis in more depth," the political analyst pointed out.
Earlier, on January 10, Trump announced the preparation of a meeting with Putin. He specified that all discussions will take place after his inauguration on January 20. So, on January 12, Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz shared that the US President-elect is preparing to hold talks with the Russian leader. According to the adviser, on this topic in the coming days or weeks there will be a telephone conversation to discuss the exact format of the meeting.
Putin, in turn, told reporters on December 26 that Russia intends to end the conflict in Ukraine, not just freeze it.
In addition, Trump's team said on December 13 that it was holding talks with Ukrainian officials and the current White House administration on resolving the conflict. Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Kellogg, then also allowed for the end of this crisis in the coming months.
The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced by the Russian president on February 24, 2022, is ongoing. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the worsening situation in the region.
