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TEHRAN, July 16 - US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, are in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, for a meeting that is expected to revolve around a range of sensitive issues from US claims of Russia’s election hacking to the Syria conflict and the crisis in Ukraine.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, are in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, for a meeting that is expected to revolve around a range of sensitive issues from US claims of Russia’s election hacking to the Syria conflict and the crisis in Ukraine.
Both sides have talked down the Monday event, with Trump telling CBS on Sunday that he was going in with “low expectations.”
John Bolton, the US National Security Adviser, said on ABC that the United States was not looking for “deliverables,” and that the meeting was going to be void of any specific structure.
US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman also downplayed expectations, saying the two leaders were merely going to have a “conversation” rather than a “summit.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russia’s RT TV station on Sunday that he did not hold high expectations for the meeting either.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, tried to stay positive and hoped for the meeting to be constructive.
Trump is going to the meeting after sowing doubt over the past week about Washington’s commitment to old allies during a high-profile summit of the NATO military alliance in Brussels and his maiden state visit to the UK.
Trump has long criticized NATO members for their refusal to commit two percent of their GDPs to defense and putting the burden on the US.
He has threatened to leave the alliance and pull all American forces out of Europe, leaving them exposed to a Russia that European leader think is getting more aggressive.
This is while ever since entering the White House in January 2017 and before that as a candidate, Trump has been reluctant to take harsh stances against Putin, raising the suspicion in and out the US that he would be willing to make concessions in the Monday meeting for better ties with him.
Hours before the meeting, Trump posted a tweet, blaming past administrations and the ongoing investigations into his alleged “collusion” with Russia for the current state of relations with Moscow.
Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election that saw Trump beat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is perhaps the most important issue that both sides of the political isle in the US are asking Trump to raise in the meeting.
Trump has been specifically asked to push for the extradition of 12 Russian agents, who US intelligence agencies claim orchestrated a series of hacking attacks that tipped the scale in Trump’s favor during his face-off with Clinton.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Trump told a CBS interview on Sunday, crushing hopes for such an agreement during the upcoming talks.
Russia has time and again denied the allegations on interfering in other countries’ democratic process, dismissing them as part of a “Russophobia” campaign run by the West.
The American head of state is also under pressure to bring up the poisoning in April of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in the UK.
London insists that Moscow was behind the attack, which British experts say was carried out by deadly Russian nerve agent Novichok and led to major fallout in ties between the two sides.
The UK and several of its allies subsequently fired Russian diplomats, a move that prompted retaliatory measures by the Kremlin.
US intel. report outlines Putin’s possible demandsMeanwhile, a US intelligence report has provided a look into the key issues that Putin is likely to raise during the summit.
The intelligence report, according to sources who spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity, suggested that the Russian leader may ask Trump to stay out of the conflict in Ukraine, to withdraw troops from eastern Syria, and to continue talks with North Korea.
Crisis in Ukraine
Russia and the West have long locked horns over the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, where pro-Moscow forces have been clashing with the Ukrainian army.
The deadly conflict has taken a turn for the worse due to America’s insistence on providing the government of Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko with anti-tank missiles and other heavy weaponry.
The US and its allies have also imposed sanctions on Russia over the conflict, which in 2014 saw the Crimean Peninsula reintegrate into Russia following a popular referendum.
Washington has also directed the NATO military alliance to deploy troops and weaponry in the Baltic Region, near Russia’s Western borders. The organization cut its ties with Moscow in 2014.
Syria conflict
Both Russia and the US have had a military presence in Syria over the past years, but for completely different reasons.
While Russia has sent fighter jets and military personnel to assist Damascus in its fight against terrorist groups on a request from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the US has been running its own aerial and ground operations with a declared goal of both eliminating terrorists.
American forces have established bases in eastern Syria, where they are believed to be training anti-Assad militiamen. Washington has warned Moscow and Damascus against approaching areas under its control in Syria.
North Korea talks
Trump thinks he has made progress in his push for North Korea’s denuclearization after a historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore last month.
While neither side has yet shown willingness to bow to demands they have put forward, the international community has supported the diplomatic efforts over the threats of an all-out nuclear war that Trump and Kim exchanged last year.
Russia, as a key supporter of the rapprochement, has called for the revival of a six-party effort by the two Koreas, Russia, Japan, China and the US to end North Korea’s nuclear program, nearly 10 years after its collapse in 2009.
Source: press tv
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