GENEVA, August 16. /TASS/. Thanks to the Alaska summit, US President Donald Trump is credited by Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche with breaking the longstanding European taboo against engaging in peace talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.
According to the publication, regardless of the summit’s immediate outcomes, Trump’s historic achievement lies in his role in "resuming diplomatic negotiations with Moscow," thereby creating "a platform for peace efforts and diplomacy." This stance sets him apart from Europeans, who, until now, have adhered to the mantra: "more weapons, more war."
The magazine emphasizes that "the taboo, which prohibited negotiations and insisted on resolving the conflict solely through military means, has finally been broken." Thanks to Trump’s initiative, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has adopted a markedly different tone, calling publicly for an end to the conflict. Regarding the summit in Alaska, Die Weltwoche concludes that "Trump did everything right."
On August 15, a meeting between Russian and US presidents, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, took place at a military base in Alaska. The rendezvous lasted about three hours: there was a one-on-one discussion in the American leader's limousine on the way to the main venue for the talks and a narrow "three-on-three" meeting. The Russian side was also represented by Presidential aide Yury Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, while the American side was represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff.
In a statement to the press following the talks, Putin said that the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict was the main topic of the summit.
Upon returning to Washington, Trump held a telephone conversation with Zelensky, and then with the leaders of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland and France, the NATO Secretary General and the head of the European Commission. According to the Axios portal, the conversation was not easy.