Trump remains vocal advocate for Putin’s political goals

Trump had already performed this “aria” during his first term in the White House. Back then, however, he couldn’t justify the need for Putin’s presence in the group—which was called the G8 before his exclusion—by claiming that otherwise, the Russia-Ukraine war wouldn’t have happened. At the time of Trump’s first presidency, there was only the annexation of Crimea and an undeclared war in Ukraine’s Donbas.

But even then, Trump tried to convince summit participants of the need to bring Putin back into the group, or at least to invite him to the G7 summit as a special guest. Even then, this caused serious disagreements between Trump and the other leaders of democratic countries.

Trump is convinced that if Putin had not been excluded from the group and negotiations with him had continued, the war between Russia and Ukraine would not have happened. This is completely detached from reality. First, Putin was excluded from what was then called the G8 after the annexation of Crimea because Russia had violated international law.

The G7 is not simply a group of leaders of the world’s most developed economies, since, for example, the head of the People’s Republic of China is not included. It is specifically about leaders of countries that adhere to democratic values. But as we have already understood, Trump does not care about democracy. For him, this group is a collection of leaders of countries that have good relations with the United States, or those personally favored by Donald Trump. And, of course, in this situation, he is simply puzzled as to why his favorite—Putin—is not among the negotiators.

It is worth recalling, however, that even after Putin was excluded from the G7 (as it was renamed after the Russian leader left), negotiations with the Russian dictator continued all the way up to February 2022. Every U.S. president engaged in these talks.

Barack Obama, who, it seems, memorized Putin’s phone number during the annexation of Crimea. Donald Trump himself, who met with the Russian president several times and failed to reach any agreements with him. And Joseph Biden, who spoke with Putin right up until the start of the large-scale Russian-Ukrainian war.

Other G7 leaders also maintained almost constant contact with Putin, not just issuing ultimatums. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, negotiated with the Russian leader about continuing the construction of Nord Stream, which Donald Trump, quite rightly, strongly disliked. They probably believed that this project would restrain the Russian president from further hostilities, as he would fear sanctions against Russian energy. French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke with Putin multiple times. Moreover, before the very summit in Biarritz, France, where Trump wanted to see Putin, the French president specifically met with the Russian leader at his own residence to discuss the issues Putin wanted to raise with the club of leaders of the world’s most developed economies.

So, to claim that the West isolated Putin is to falsify history—in other words, to engage in the favorite pastime of U.S. President Donald Trump. Who, even now, has not forgotten to remind everyone that if he had been president in 2022, the big war would not have started.

It only remains to ask why, during Donald Trump’s time in the Oval Office, we witnessed a major war between Israel and Iran. We see the actual failure of all of Trump’s negotiation efforts both in the Middle East and in the post-Soviet space. What is stopping Donald Trump now from demonstrating his “brilliant” abilities, which, it seems, only he knows about? And the members of his inner circle, who are simply afraid to tell the American president the truth about what is happening with his political approaches.

But such a statement by Donald Trump on the first day before the G7 summit is quite dangerous. It shows that the President of the United States remains an inspired lobbyist for the political interests of the President of the Russian Federation. At the G7 summit, he is trying to represent not so much America as Russia.

And here, of course, the big question remains whether the American president, during his meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart—since Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also invited to the G7 meeting—will agree to sell Ukraine the weapons it so desperately needs to continue resisting Russian aggression. Aggression that Putin has no intention of ending, not even for a moment considering Trump’s proposals for a ceasefire. It is also obvious that the United States will not join most of the important G7 resolutions that will concern approaches to Russia and resistance to Russian aggression.

To mask the fact that there are deep disagreements among the allies and that the United States is now on the other side of democracy, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the host of this difficult meeting, decided that participants would sign separate documents on separate topics.

As has already happened in Donald Trump’s political career, there may not be a joint statement by the leaders of the world’s leading democratic economies at this summit. And there is logic in this, because the G7 is no longer a club of leaders of the world’s democratic economies.

Today, the group consists of the leaders of six major democratic economies and the President of the United States, who does not see his own country as the leader of the democratic world.

And with this simple truth—the actual rejection by Trump and his supporters of democracy as a value—I think it is worth coming to terms, so as not to nurture false hopes about the possible intentions and actions of the American president and those who serve him.

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About the author: Vitaly Portnikov, journalist, laureate of the Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine.

The editorial board does not always share the views expressed by blog authors.