Putin charms another US president
begin quote from:
Their meeting went from discourse to discord
Trump, Putin meeting shifts from discourse to discord
Trump meets with Putin 01:57
Story highlights
- President Trump's challenge was to hold his own with his Russian counterpart
- It may be months before the real winner of Friday's showdown will be known
(CNN)The
challenge for President Donald Trump heading into his biggest
diplomatic gut check yet was to hold his own with Russian President
Vladimir Putin.
The
stakes in one of the most eagerly awaited diplomatic showdowns in years
were obvious as soon as they appeared before the cameras.
Trump,
the rookie politician, sat solidly in his chair, with his jaw set, not
looking completely at ease, with his fingers set in a triangle in front
of his lap.
"It's
an honor to be with you," Trump told Putin as he shook his
counterpart's hand, after telling reporters they were having "very,
very" good talks.
Putin, the global
power player and master of the body language of the mano-a-mano photo
op, adopted his usual, inscrutable expression, but nevertheless said he
was "delighted" to meet Trump, at last in person.
Such
is the opacity with which both sides deal with the media, that it may
be months before the real winner of Friday's showdown in Germany will be
known.
But each side came away
from the talks between their two alpha dog leaders, at the G20 summit,
with some of their goals satisfied.
Trump
sought to ease political angst back home by raising the issue of
alleged Russian interference in last year's election -- amid accusations
from US intelligence agencies that Moscow conspired to help him win
office.
Both sides could hold up an
agreement, along with Jordan, to back a ceasefire in southwest Syria as
a down payment on future anti-terrorism cooperation.
The
progress was important to Trump, because it gave him a dividend to
justify his often expressed view that he could make deals with Putin and
improve US-Russia relations.
The
thorny issue of Russia's seizure of Crimea and its activities in Ukraine
was addressed by the agreement of both sides on the appointment of
respected former NATO ambassador Kurt Volker to be the US special envoy
to the conflict.
Putin, whose
political project is rooted in a desire to restore Moscow's lost
influence, respect and role as an integral player in global power
politics, got to sit down, side-by-side, with an American leader for the
first time in two years.
And from
both sides, there was talk of a connection between Trump and Putin, and
the hope that the relations between the world's two biggest nuclear
powers, that have spiraled dangerously to their worst state since the
Cold War, may at least have stabilized.
Post-meeting discord over election meddling
Yet
within minutes of the end of the meeting that ran much longer than
expected to two-and-a-quarter hours, the signs of future discord were
already evident, with differing accounts of how the election issue was
raised.
Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson, the only American official in the room apart from Trump,
later told reporters in an off camera briefing that the President raised
the issue straight away, triggering a "robust and lengthy exchange."
It
was a significant revelation, since Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on
US intelligence agency assessments of Russian interference in the 2016
election. Most recently, in Poland on Thursday, he had suggested that
Moscow was not solely responsible for the alleged meddling.
But
by the time Tillerson spoke, Russia had already put its version of
events out first -- a lesson for the new White House in the
sophistication of Russian diplomatic strategy and the difficulty of
getting the upper hand.
"President
Trump said he's heard Putin's very clear statements that this is not
true and that the Russian government didn't interfere in the elections
and that he accepts these statements," said Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov.
A senior Trump
administration official hurriedly told CNN's Jim Acosta that version of
events was not true. But the suggestion either that the US side was not
being fully forthcoming about the conversation, or that Trump made any
such concession to Putin, will only fuel the raging debate back home
stateside.
Former White House press secretary Dana Perino quickly criticized the White House's stage management of the meeting.
"Being
1st to read out, on cam, is an excellent practice for any meeting w/
foreign leaders. Joint press conf even better. Avoids distortion,"
Perino, who worked for President George W. Bush, tweeted.
Meeting won't end meddling controversy
Trump's
critics are also certain to raise the point that both the President and
Putin seem to have agreed to disagree on the hacking issue and move on.
"What
the two presidents, I think rightly, focused on is, how do we move
forward from here," said Tillerson, announcing that the two sides were
to seek some kind of future framework to make sure cyber hacking in
elections does not happen again.
For
Trump's critics and many in the intelligence community, who believe
that Putin pulled off an audacious effort to interfere in American
democracy, possibly designed to deprive Hillary Clinton of the
presidency, punting the issue forward is not nearly going to be enough.
It
appeared that accounts of the meeting are likely to fuel rather than
quell the raging political controversy in Washington as a special
counsel investigates whether there was any collusion between Trump's
team and Moscow.
Delaware Sen.
Chris Coons, a Democratic member of the foreign relations committee,
said on CNN that Trump had erred by being so accommodating to Putin.
"Rather
than rushing to say what an honor it was for him to meet Putin ...
President Trump could have made it clear at the outset that he thinks
Russian meddling in our 2016 election was a grave matter of national
security and he intends to take strong action," said Coons.
Meeting was unusually small
One
reason why intrigue will likely grow is the set-up of the talks
themselves, which added to the impression that the White House wanted to
keep a tight lid on accounts of what went on.
Instead of a full phalanx of aides, Trump, Tillerson, Putin and Lavrov were joined only by two translators in their meeting.
Usually
for a bilateral encounter of this kind on a presidential trip,
officials like the national security adviser, US and Russian
ambassadors, top National Security Council staff and note-takers would
be present.
"It's typically bigger,
when it is Russia, that has historically certainly been the case
because the issues with Russia are so complex," said former State
Department and Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, who is now a CNN national
security analyst.
Having such a
small group was certainly a political risk for Trump, who has little
experience as a top diplomatic interlocutor and Tillerson, who has had
many meetings with Putin as the head of ExxonMobil but is also a
relative novice on the diplomatic stage.
"It's
always a risk when you go into a meeting with Vladimir Putin and Sergey
Lavrov," Kirby said. "Even the best, most accomplished diplomats like
John Kerry, there is always a risk when you go in there."
Good chemistry
Still,
both sides left the talks hoping that they had laid the ground work for
a more normal relationship between the US and Russia -- an important
consideration because the two nations have been slipping alarmingly
close to real misunderstandings that carry the threat of a dangerous
escalation.
US and Russian planes,
troops and ships have been coming into close proximity along the borders
of eastern Europe and forces from the two sides are increasingly
nudging up against one another in Syria as ISIS territory narrows.
The
lack of proper communications between the two presidents --
notwithstanding the election interference furor -- is something neither
side wants.
So it was significant the US side said there was good chemistry between them.
"Once
they met and got acquainted with one another ... I think there was just
such a level of engagement and exchange, neither one of them wanted to
stop," Tillerson said.
The
secretary of state said first lady Melania Trump was sent into the
meeting to try to break it up -- but the President wanted to carry on.
It's
not unusual for US presidents to start out stressing the positive with
Putin. Both Bush and Barack Obama sought to get off on the right foot
with the Russian leader -- but found that clashing US and Russian
national interests soon ensured that their best laid plans went awry.
It
will take more than a two-and-a-quarter hour meeting between Putin and
Trump, to convince skeptics that this new beginning -- at an
extraordinary time of tension and intrigue in US-Russia relations -- is
not just another false dawn.
No comments:
Post a Comment