Putin-Trump talks may lay foundations for new mechanism to resolve global issues

MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/. Monday’s meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump may lay the foundations for a new mechanism to settle global issues, Andrei Bystritsky, Chairman of the Board of the Valdai International Discussion Club’s Development and Support Foundation, told TASS.

"The modern world is very complicated since there are many competing, multi-tiered and multidirectional processes, so it needs a matrix to accommodate it all," the expert said. "This meeting may prove important for the construction of this sort of a cooperative and decision-making matrix," he added.

"I am optimistic and believe that it [the meeting between the two presidents - TASS] may greatly contribute to further steps aimed at ensuring that there is more consistency in relations between the leading countries as far as managing the modern world is concerned," Bystritsky pointed out.

He added that building mechanisms to maintain global security was particularly important in the face of new threats, including those coming from improved weapons.

First step

According to the Russian expert, the willingness shown by the most militarily powerful states may encourage other global political actors to focus on methods of interaction based on cooperation.

"This meeting is crucial because it may send an important signal to many other countries in the world that such great powers are capable of making agreements despite a large number of contradictions, they are also capable of finding ways to resolve issues and show their readiness to find solutions," Bystritsky noted. "It is important that this step does not remain isolated and is followed by other significant steps that will be able to affect the global situation and the situation in the Middle East in particular, which is what everyone has been concerned about," the expert said.

The talks should also put relations between Russia and the US on a more constructive track, Bystritsky added. "It is important that a new vector emerges and all the contacts that will follow acquire some direction to allow us to achieve solutions and reasonable results, as well as to find a mechanism to make decisions concerning very complex issues," he said.

Time and place

In the expert’s view, Finland’s capital is an appropriate place for holding such a summit due to its neutral status. "Helsinki is a technically convenient place for both parties to the upcoming summit because Finland is a neutral country that has been acting wisely in the modern world," the expert said.

Besides, in Bystritsky’s words, history may have also played a role, since in the Cold War era, one of the most successful agreements between the two opposing blocs was signed in the Finnish capital.

"We live in a world of names, the Helsinki Declaration [the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe signed in 1975 - TASS] and the Helsinki process are not just empty words," he said. "We remember that in the past, after the Helsinki Accords on the inviolability of the post-war borders was signed, the then Soviet leader [Leonid Brezhnev] noted that it radically reduced the threat of war and the risk of conflicts," the expert said, adding that "the same thing is happening now."

According to the expert, the current global political situation paved the way for this conference. "The summit shows that the global atmosphere and the climate in the United States are changing. Trump’s positions are strengthening and the US president feels more confident. Under these circumstances, he is capable of fulfilling his election promises," Bystritsky said.

The summit between the Russian and US presidents will take place in Helsinki on July 16. Putin and Trump first held talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017. In November 2017, Putin and Trump held a brief meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Vietnam, adopting a joint statement on Syria.