GENEVA, August 21. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump respects his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and wants to establish friendly relations with him and Moscow, Chicago University professor John Mearsheimer told Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche in an interview.

In his opinion, even during his first presidential term of 2017-2021, Trump sought to maintain good relations with Russia and its leader, including to unite against China. But now Trump wants to move ties forward because he "likes" the Russian president, the professor posits. Trump seems to appreciate Putin because he is a strong individual, an influential politician, and a "first-rate strategist, and Trump is the kind of person who is drawn to power," according to Mearsheimer.

"When he deals with Putin, he deals with an influential player of the system, which he understands, so respects the Russian leader. He wants to be on good terms with Putin. That is what is happening," the expert pointed out.

On August 15, Putin and Trump met at a military base in Alaska. The rendezvous lasted about three hours: a one-on-one conversation in the American leader’s limousine on the way to the main venue for negotiations was followed by talks in a narrow group "three-on-three". From the Russian side, the meeting was also attended by presidential aide Yury Ushakov and Lavrov, and from the American side — 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 on the agenda. The Russian leader also called for turning the page in bilateral relations and restoring cooperation and invited Trump to Moscow. For his part, the US president announced progress achieved in the negotiations, but noted that the parties had not managed to reach agreement on everything.