Trump-Putin meet, more to fuel his Nobel dreams

Bengaluru: When Russian President Vladimir Putin meets U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday, it will be his first visit to the United States since 2015. As President Trump pushes to end the war in Ukraine, he is using tariffs to try to persuade Russia to agree to a cease-fire that would halt its invasion.

Trump had said last month that Russia’s trading partners could face very severe tariffs, in what can be termed a round about way of trying to hurt Moscow. An Aug. 8 deadline for Russia to agree to a cease fire came and went, but Trump did not impose new tariffs on its trading partner. Instead, he announced plans to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Alaska Previous American presidents have tried to use the tariff threat in this manner, but not nearly to the degree that Trump has, a half-year into his second term.

Unfortunately, Trump’s threats have had no effect so far on Putin, who has continued to press his war against Ukraine despite the threats of further economic pain on Russia, which was subjected to heavy U.S.-led sanctions after its invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. Trump, fresh from the success of settling a long time dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the so-called Zangezur corridor, is hoping that af ter the India-Pakistan truce, the Iran-Israel truce bro kered by him, and now the Russia-Ukraine deal would improve his prospects in Oslo for the Nobel.

But then, a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine will be impossible to strike without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who isn’t invited. Ukraine’s approach to how and whether a peace deal happens also differs from Moscow. Kyiv insists on se curing a cease-fire before discussing any terms for such a deal; Moscow in sists that there can be no cease-fire without talks, which must address the root causes of the war.

After weeks of impatience with Putin, Trump has been lured back into negotiations. On his fifth trip to Moscow this month, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Mr. Fix It, was assured by Putin that the war could end with a land swap. Zelensky has made it clear that he is not interested in carving up his country to assuage Russia.

A peace deal that requires Kyiv to accept swapping Ukrainian territory with Russia would not only be deeply unpopular. It would also be illegal under its constitution European Union leaders who are worried, appealed to US President Donald Trump to defend their security interests at a key summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin later this week over the war in Ukraine.

The overarching fear for European countries is that Putin will set his sights on one of them next if he wins in Ukraine.