Moscow – For Vladimir Putin, holding a summit with Donald Trump was a victory in itself.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
While the U.S. leader went home to widespread criticism after their Monday meeting, the Russian president came home to universal praise in Moscow — even though there were no major breakthroughs.
Yet most Russians aren’t saying Putin vanquished Trump. Instead they’re sympathizing with the U.S. president, portraying Trump as a victim of irrational domestic critics and aggressive journalists, because they are pinning hopes on him for improving relations over the long haul.
With U.S.-Russia tensions exceptionally high, the Kremlin set low expectations for the summit.
“Nobody in Moscow who is realistic had any illusions that this one meeting can produce any breakthroughs,” said Alexander Gabuev of the Carnegie Moscow Center. “The hope was at least we can start talking to each other.”
And in that, Putin got what he went for. Gabuev said Putin ably won over his domestic audiences, notably by pushing back at accusations of Russian election meddling with his own accusations against the U.S.
Russians welcomed Putin’s offer to allow the FBI to interrogate Russian military intelligence officials accused of hacking the 2016 U.S. election campaign. And they especially welcomed Putin’s insistence on a tit-for-tat deal aimed at discrediting U.S. sanctions against rich and powerful Russians.
And unsurprisingly, Russians welcomed Trump’s suggestion that he trusts Putin more than U.S. intelligence agencies.
Russian officialdom “will be super-cautious in order not to damage Donald Trump any more than he did himself,” Gabuev said.
Instead of being portrayed as a duel on the world stage, the summit was viewed in Russia as a meeting of two powerful men who discussed global problems and then had to face down a crowd of pesky journalists.
“Those who opposed the meeting will try to devalue the agreements made,” said Vladimir Olenchenko of Russia’s Institute of Global Economics and International Relations. “We hope that Trump will have enough political will and patience to overcome the resistance and continue dialogue with Russia.”
Putin sought to emphasize areas where Moscow and Washington could find some common ground, such as the Syrian crisis.
“What makes you think that President Trump trusts me and I fully trust him?” Putin said. “He defends the interests of the United States, and I defend the interests of the Russian Federation. We are looking for ways how to narrow our differences and make our work constructive.”
Observers in Moscow remain cautious about what all this means for the long term.
But the Kremlin didn’t expect one meeting to bring an end to Western sanctions and a pullback of NATO forces deployed near Russia’s borders. Putin is hoping the summit took a first step toward normalizing relations — and most importantly, persuading the U.S. to recognize Russia as a global player whose interests must be taken into account.
The main result of the summit “is that it happened, despite the collapse that Russian-American relations are in,” Valery Garbuzov, head of the USA and Canada Institute in Moscow, told Komsomoskaya Pravda newspaper. “You can say it’s not much, but neither Putin nor Trump could do more.”
“Instead of being portrayed as a duel on the world stage, the summit was viewed in Russia as a meeting of two powerful men who discussed global problems and then had to face down a crowd of pesky journalists.”
All true no shame in it. Russia is not our enemy. Time to get out of the cold war.
And tricky yoni, before you start your smart alec spamming of VIN aka misinformation tactics under 10 different user names let me debunk your nonsense. (This may be too late as he probably posted his junk already)
I expect to see you copying and pasting Thomas Freidman’s editorial malarkey that trump committed Treason. All Trump did was get rid of the old cold war mentality of 25 years ago that’s no longer relevant.
Collusion is simply opposition research.
Mingling thats what all countries do. The USA did it to.
Hacking , we did that to Germany too.
Noone is saying Russia is our best friend. But some cordial friendship with three eyes on our back, is not a bad thing. None of these crimes even come close to the shoe laces of what was done at the cold war when nukes were aimed at us.
Provide substantive arguments rather than names please.
The Cold War ended in 1989 when Gorbachov slayed the Communist Party in Red Russia. He alone did the CCCP in. No one except Toxic Trumpie is fighting the Cold War. Its over. They lost. Now KGB STASI Agent Pootinski has successfully infiltrated the WH, and they won. TRAITOR TRUMPF & TROLLSKI ARCHIE. FEH.
We Americans are getting a taste of our own medicine.We have such a bad history of interfering in other peoples elections.
For us screaming at the Russians is like the bully that got caught red-handed,and is foaming at his mouth at anyone he thinks is to blame.
OK fellow Americans,12 Russians got indicted.Do we really have the proof that the Russian government did this?Perhaps some super rich people found an opportunity to hurt the USA by hiring these goons to hack the elections??Maybe North Korea and China were involved or even Iran?
There is no doubt that former President Obama could never smile his smile at Putin,and that relations with Russia during his presidency was at a very dangerous level.I am glad to see that under our President that these two leaders can contact each other as equals,as there is too much that needs to be discussed between these two powerful nations.
We have to wait for Mueller to finish his investigation,that might not even be for another year or two,and stop becoming hysterical scary-cats every time Russia is mentioned.Russia might have hurt us,but we Americans should be strong,and poised on the present,and to be prepared to be able to deal with Russia.