MOSCOW, August 25. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump will begin normalizing relations with Russia without reference to the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, US political commentator Steve Gill told TASS.
"It is unfortunate that Europe, driven by the demands of <...> Zelensky, seems unable to secure any concessions from Ukraine. Zelensky continues to repeat the demands that actually led to the conflict, including possession of Crimea and the Donbass, expansion of NATO to include Ukraine, and foreign military troops placed in Ukraine on the borders of Russia," Gill, who served as a director of intergovernmental affairs for the US trade representative in the Executive Office of the President under both George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations, said.
In his view, "all of those points have been and remain absolute red lines from the standpoint of Russia, and the refusal of Zelensky to budge on any of them means that the negotiations between reasonable leaders will only resume after more carnage on the battlefield and more losses by Ukraine."
The expert also believes that Trump could "wash his hands of what he says 'was Biden’s war anyway' and leave Ukraine and the European leaders to their own devices."
"In that case, Trump may reengage with Putin regarding business and diplomatic relations, while leaving the Ukraine issue off the table. At this point, I predict that it is more likely that Trump pursues that path rather than being able to bring Zelensky to a point of reasonable negotiation," Gill concluded.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States held a meeting in Alaska on August 15. Putin told the media after the talks that the parties had focused on resolving the Ukraine conflict. The US leader, in turn, pointed to progress in the negotiation process but noted that the parties had not been able to agree on all issues.