Some experts say that Putin has almost zero chances to reach mutual understanding with Trump. First of all, they remind us that over the first 10 days of his presidency, Donald Trump managed to create as much uncertainty around US-Russia relations that as no other president has ever created even within the first 100 days of their presidency.
The overall mood around those relations has turned pessimistic, with fewer optimists expecting any improvement in the bilateral relations between Washington and Moscow. On top of that, the public opinion has changed as well. For example, in November 2016, 54% of the Russians used to expect better relations with the USA, now the amount has shrunk all the way down to just 46%. Moreover, only 7% of them are completely sure that Donald Trump is really going to make friends with Vladimir Putin.
Essentially, the prospects of a Russia-US summit have almost vanished over the last few weeks. Instead, all eyes are on the recent phone talk between the two presidents. The Russians were hoping that this phone talk would push Trump closer to canceling the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by Obama’s administration and their Western European allies over the situation in Ukraine.
Even though Putin and Trump did have a conversation by phone, later on Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary for the President of Russia, informed the public that there was no preparation for any serious contacts at that point.
At the same time, experts draw our attention to another important fact. The thing is that Russia may not really be interested in getting those sanctions canceled. As for Trump, his superficial willingness to make friends with Russia is likely to be dictated by his desire to resolve the issue once and for all and to strike it off the list of major problems as soon as possible. Simply put, it’s not about recognizing Russia as a superpower in the international arena.
At this point, for Trump to chance the course, Russia has to offer him something really valuable. However, Putin doesn’t seem to be determined to make any concessions. So far, Donald Trump mentioned that he wants Russia to cut its nuclear arsenal. Later on, he unexpectedly urged Russia to give the Crimea back to Ukraine. This is something the Kremlin is not going to do.
So far, the only thing that Russia and the USA have in common is the international terrorism. Both Putin and Trump want to destroy the ISIS and other terrorist organizations operating in the Middle East.
As for Putin, he is focused on other more important things rather than the sanctions. He hopes that Trump spoils the relation with Western Europe and the NATO. The biggest nightmare for the world is that nobody know what Donald Trump can do next, he is unpredictable.
