Political analyst points to Trump's attempt to pressure Russia on Ukrainian issue
US President Donald Trump, who took office the day before, will form a tough negotiating stance towards Russia on the Ukrainian crisis, but Moscow is unlikely to respond to the US leader's pressure. Political scientist Alexander Asafov shared this opinion with Izvestia on January 21.
On the eve, Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin should make a deal on Ukraine. In his opinion, big problems await the Russian Federation if Moscow does not go to the agreements, reports The Guardian. At the same time, the American head of state added that he intends to meet with his Russian counterpart.
Commenting on this, Asafov noted that in his inaugural speech, Trump talked about anything, about different topics, but not about the Ukrainian conflict. Against this background, this statement, made after the ceremony, shows that Trump will have a tough negotiating position, which, in his opinion, Russia, represented by the country's president, should accept.
"It sounds quite aggressive, but it is obvious that also in the whole policy of the new American president will be seen the dominance of forceful methods, and he will try to push through. Well, the Russian position is quite obvious, it has been said many times - I do not think that Russia will somehow react to such pressure," - said the interlocutor of the publication.
He emphasized that this way Trump "in his style" maintains a certain tension. However, the political scientist pointed out that so far there have been no real proposals from Washington, and at the moment Trump's words remain just words.
Earlier in the day, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov also confirmed during a briefing that Russia is ready for a dialog with the United States on the Ukrainian conflict if the relevant signals come from Washington. Also on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that preparations for a phone conversation between Putin and Trump are not yet underway.
At the same time, Trump suspended US development aid to other countries for 90 days with his executive order. The justification for the measure states that Washington's "foreign aid industry" does not meet the interests of the state, in many cases contradicts American values, and also serves to destabilize the world.
On the eve of the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called ending the conflict in Ukraine a Trump priority. According to him, "part of the preparatory work" has begun. He also specified that both sides of the conflict should be ready for compromise.
January 20 was the inauguration of Trump, who took the oath of office and became the 47th President of the United States. After that, he reiterated that he plans to meet with Putin as soon as possible and discuss the conflict in Ukraine.
