Trump vs. Putin: Tomahawk as card in political game

First, it will be preceded by a summit at the level of foreign ministers. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Sergey Lavrov. They will try to agree on what Putin and Trump can sign. If they fail to reach an agreement or if the terms are deemed insufficient by the U.S., a presidential-level meeting is unlikely to take place.

Second, this round of talks does not involve Steve Witkoff at all. This increases the chances of avoiding a “broken telephone” scenario.

"As expected, discussions about Tomahawk missiles are purely meant to play them as cards in a political game. If the game goes badly and the Americans are sharply dissatisfied with the outcome, the actual supplies may be brought up."

Instead, the U.S. decided to approach the meeting using classic diplomacy, conducting all necessary preparatory steps and involving specialists from the State Department specifically trained for such negotiations. At the same time, Marco Rubio is one of the most anti-Russian politicians in the current administration. However, it must be noted that he does not have sufficient independence to accept or reject terms in negotiations with Russia.

In any case, the very fact that the U.S. has changed its approach from the failed Alaska summit allows hope for a more positive outcome from this round of talks.

That said, it may, unfortunately, happen that Zelenskyy will have to adjust his plans in Washington today. He was preparing to speak with the U.S. president about missiles and air defense, but the discussions will likely focus on Kramatorsk instead.

Source

About the author. Mykola Kniazhytskyi, journalist, Member of the Ukrainian Parliament.

The editorial team does not always share the opinions expressed by blog or column authors.