Trump and Putin's dialogue: what conclusions can be drawn from the statements?

On March 18, the phone call the whole world was waiting for took place: the US president, who promised to end the war in Ukraine, called his Russian counterpart. So, what did they discuss? What are the initial conclusions? In the "Geopolitics" program of Kun.uz, ​​analysts Oybek Sirojov and Kamoliddin Rabbimov shared their thoughts.

— Can we say that the Trump-Putin dialogue was actually effective?

Oybek Sirojov: Both sides positively assessed the dialogue, which lasted more than 2 hours. In particular, the Trump team highly appreciated the conversation with Putin at the press conference. Not all topics raised in the negotiations are made public. Usually, the content and spirit of the negotiations can be analyzed by looking at the subsequent development of events.

In general, I assess this dialogue as constructive towards achieving peace.

— Did Trump and Putin promise any specific conditions?

Kamoliddin Rabbimov: If we pay attention to the time of the conversation and the statements of the parties, the dialogue was quite difficult. There were warm greetings, but it is clear that the conditions set by Putin were not fully accepted.

If we look at the statements after the conversation, there is an agreement on the exchange of prisoners in the 175-175 format, but there was no agreement on key strategic points, including a complete cessation of the war. Because the Russian side is setting a condition to stop arming Ukraine, transferring intelligence information, etc. However, there is no clause in the US statement that such demands were also made to the Russian side. Both sides are slowly exploring the situation, stating their own conditions.

I think the most important point in the dialogue was the creation of a permanent joint US-Russian working group. The work of this working group will also be very complicated, because the most difficult demands that Putin has made are guarantees that Ukraine will not join NATO, that the Ukrainian military contingent should be limited, and that Ukraine should generally be in Russia's orbit. I think that neither Europe nor the Trump administration will agree to these conditions.

During the conversation, political scientists discussed the 30-day agreement not to attack energy facilities, the controversial points of Russia's demands, Russia's desire for the security of ships in the Black Sea, as well as the participation of Ukraine itself and Europe in the peace process. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”