The Helsinki meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump was long and productive. As a result of the summit, it can be judged that the leaders of the Russian Federation and the US parted in good mood, which means that, as experts predicted, this is only the beginning of serious work.
Nevertheless, one can not help but notice that unlike the Singapore summit of the US President Donald Trump and the head of the DPRK Kim Jong-un, where there was only one topic on the roster – the denuclearization of the peninsula, the meeting in Helsinki was extremely versatile. Both leaders went in with various questions and goals. So, if the main priority for Trump was the domestic political vector, then Putin, in turn, sought to resolve foreign policy issues.
For example, for the leader of the US, the issue of the so-called “Russian interference” in the presidential elections in the United States, which on the eve of the meeting in Washington was fueled by new accusations against the citizens of the Russian Federation, was very painful. In this issue, the leaders of the countries have done a really decent job. In particular, the decision on cooperation of law enforcement bodies is very promising.
There is also progress on the Syrian crisis. At the same time, as, among other things, Vladimir Putin said, the interests of Israel will be taken into account in this matter.
Contrary to the wishes of Ukrainian and some European politicians, the existence of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline did not change as a result of the meeting between Putin and Trump. Moreover, the American president even decided to “forgive” the cooperation with Russia of Germany, which the day before sharply condemned at the NATO summit in Brussels. A very reasonable step for Putin in energy issues was to compromise on the transit of gas through Ukraine, voicing at the same time specific and true conditions for the current situation.
Ukraine was also touched upon, and as many analysts predicted, the leaders of the countries officially announced the importance of compliance with the Minsk agreements. At the same time, any details of the talks on this issue were not announced, which is quite natural given the subtlety of the situation in Kiev.
Of course, one can not fail to note one of the key victories achieved at the summit – the restoration of bilateral political and economic ties.
Such a decision only once again confirms that the summit in Helsinki is of great importance and has become only the beginning of a long, but significant way to overcome the protracted international crisis.