Who knows: Europe continues to send unconstructive signals ahead of Alaska summit
The meeting in Alaska is approaching — taking into account the time difference, it is likely that it will take place at the end of Friday, August 15, or when it is already Saturday night in Moscow. Despite the possible historical significance of the Putin-Trump summit, the European Union is sending the most unconstructive signals to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told Izvestia. The President of the United States also drew attention to the "unfriendly" actions on the part of Europe, who, if the negotiations in Anchorage were successful, proposed holding a trilateral meeting of the Russian Federation, the United States, and Ukraine in the near future. At the same time, Kiev is still ready to discuss territorial issues, says German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The Ukrainian authorities are forced to make concessions amid failures on the battlefield and the failure of attempts to convince the Trump administration, analysts believe.
What did Donald Trump and EU leaders agree on?
After the Russia–USA summit in Alaska on August 15, a trilateral meeting with Ukraine may take place, Donald Trump said following a videoconference with European leaders, which was also attended by Vladimir Zelensky.
The leaders of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland, France and the European Union, as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, also joined the video meeting. The organizer was German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who also invited Vladimir Zelensky to Berlin.
According to CBS, the United States is already looking for a meeting place for Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky at the end of next week.
— And it could be a meeting where, perhaps, everything will be settled 100%. But it won't work at the first meeting. Only certain successes can be achieved at the first stage," the US president said.
At the same time, the Republican stressed that Russia would face very "serious measures" from the United States if agreements on Ukraine in Alaska were not reached. Trump considers the freezing of the conflict and the exchange of territories to be the key to a peaceful settlement.
Ukraine is ready for negotiations on territorial issues, but the starting point should be the so-called line of contact, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.
Vladimir Zelensky announced the agreement with the EU on the "five principles" of a peaceful settlement. The Reuters news agency previously wrote about them: an immediate truce, guarantees of security to Ukraine, the exchange of prisoners of war and the return of children home, the continuation of sanctions against Russia, as well as payments from the Russian Federation in favor of Ukraine.
The European Union and its individual members are sending the most unconstructive signals to find options for a systemic peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large for crimes committed by the Kiev regime, told Izvestia.
— The European Union claims to deny the two largest world powers the opportunity to conduct a bilateral dialogue. They go overboard in their abilities, trying to be present at the negotiating table and influence the decisions made in the relations between the two states. This is clearly overkill, which contradicts the norms of international law and political reality," Miroshnik told Izvestia.
The EU and a number of European states adhere to the paradigm that they have stated for a long time: by all means continue to support the bloodshed in Ukraine and supply the Kiev regime as much as possible.
"Therefore, in this case we are talking about an absolutely unconstructive position, which is in no way set up to resolve the conflict in Ukraine peacefully or through political and diplomatic means," the diplomat concluded.
The news that the presidents of Russia and the United States will hold talks in Alaska on August 15 has caused confusion among Washington's European allies. The White House did not inform the EU of its decision to arrange a meeting with Vladimir Putin. Therefore, Brussels is trying to prevent the dialogue between the leaders of the two powers as much as possible.
In particular, 26 EU countries, with the exception of Hungary, issued a statement saying that a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian conflict should protect the interests of Kiev and Brussels. The Europeans insist that negotiations can only be conducted under conditions of a cease-fire or a reduction in hostilities.
However, European politicians have no chance of convincing the American leader to follow Joe Biden's course of confrontation with Russia, Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics at Moscow State University, told Izvestia. Donald Trump generally does not consider them as equal partners.
Another thing is that Trump's position is subject to certain fluctuations and changes depending on the president's environment and the situation that exists inside and outside the United States. Thus, according to The Times, Trump's special representative Steve Witkoff supports the idea of Russia's military and political control over the territories of Ukraine it has liberated. And another special envoy, Keith Kellogg, has repeatedly expressed his sympathies in favor of Kiev.
Why is the European Union trying to interfere with the negotiations between Russia and the United States
The EU leadership is particularly concerned about the fact that they, like Ukraine, were not invited to Alaska. The head of the European Diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, said on August 12 that Ukraine and Europe should be at the negotiating table with Russia and the United States, but "President Vladimir Putin does not want Kiev's participation in this process." She noted that the EU is working on the 19th package of sanctions against Russia and "should not discuss concessions" until Russia "agrees to a full and unconditional truce."
The EU and Ukraine currently have no strategy. They were completely unprepared for the Russian-American summit and had already convinced themselves of the inevitability of US sanctions against Moscow. President Putin outplayed his opponents, depriving them of freedom of maneuver. The current fuss reflects the lack of political planning in Brussels and Kiev, Oleg Karpovich, vice rector of the Diplomatic Academy, told Izvestia.
— Of course, they will try to disrupt a possible agreement through provocations and attempts to convince Zelensky to continue the war to the last Ukrainian. But so far, their disorderly activity, judging by the statements of American leaders, has only the opposite effect," the expert noted.
At the same time, the EU countries clearly do not intend to abandon their support for Ukraine. In recent years, they have accelerated the expansion of defense plants three times, the Financial Times newspaper reports, citing data from the Sentinel-1 radar satellites used by the European Space Agency.
But Europe will not be able to completely replace the United States in the matter of supplying Ukraine, since it does not have the necessary production facilities. However, if desired, the EU can create a strong defense complex, for which about 800 billion euros have already been allocated. He will probably continue to develop a scheme for financial injections into the military-industrial complex, noted German political scientist Egor Belyachkov in a comment to Izvestia.
— Nevertheless, this process will take years, and Ukraine needs weapons on a daily basis. Accordingly, the Europeans are in a deliberately unfavorable situation for themselves, in which they can only ask the American president to keep supplies to Ukraine or financial assistance to it, which Trump most likely will not do, the expert said.
How are the preparations for the Alaska talks going?
Against this background, preparatory work for the historic summit of the presidents of Russia and the United States continues, although even the exact location of its holding is still unknown. According to CNN, the meeting may take place at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Anchorage. Ted Stevens International Airport is considered the second possible location for the fateful meeting.
The United States has already allowed until August 20 all operations prohibited under anti-Russian sanctions necessary for the organization of the summit in Alaska.
Opponents of the negotiations are also preparing: They're trying to disrupt the meeting. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian Armed Forces planned a provocative strike with a large number of civilian casualties using drones and missiles on one of the densely populated residential areas or on a hospital. The alleged Russian attack will have to be immediately recorded by imported Western journalists.
Ukraine intends to use the entire arsenal of prohibited means to disrupt the negotiations between the presidents of Russia and the United States, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Earlier it became known that the FSB prevented a series of terrorist attacks that were being prepared by the Ukrainian special services. In particular, their agent planned to blow up a car in the Moscow region to kill a Russian military man.
US President Donald Trump also notes attempts to discredit the meeting. According to him, the American media want to present the very fact of the summit in Alaska as a defeat.
The background of the meeting is also influenced by Russia's successes on the battlefield. According to the American Institute for the Study of War, the Russian offensive has gained record momentum, and on August 12 alone, the Russian Armed Forces took control of an area of 110 square kilometers. Western military analysts are sounding the alarm due to the breakthrough of Russian troops near Pokrovsk, which threatens Ukraine with a complete collapse of the front in this area.
With the Russian Armed Forces advancing, attempts by Western media to discuss possible territorial concessions to Russia make no sense. As Alexey Fadeev, Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, noted at a briefing, "the territorial structure of the Russian Federation is enshrined in the Constitution of our country. That says it all."
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