US President Donald Trump said he expects to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest in the next two weeks.
Radar Armenia spoke with Sergey Melkonyan, a researcher at the APRI Armenia analytical center and an international expert, about the topic.
-What can we expect from this meeting?
-Let's assume what issues will be on the agenda. First, Russia-US bilateral relations are important to Russia in the context of its strategy, which seeks to separate the Ukrainian war from Russia-US relations. In this context, Moscow needs to restore direct flights and develop diplomatic relations. This is about bilateral issues.
And in the Ukrainian context, it is clear that the first issue will be missiles —not only those missiles; other issues may also be on the agenda: humanitarian issues, a ceasefire, and a peace treaty. Therefore, there is a need to breathe new life into these agreements, but it is essential to know how Zelensky's visit will end, because they often say that Trump changes his mind in favor of whoever comes to him last. In any case, if the meeting takes place, Ukraine's position here may already weaken.
-And why?
-Since the latter will actually be a tete-a-tete conversation at the Trump-Putin level. Trump will certainly try to show that he is motivated to advance the peace agenda with the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, he will be interested in showing some success, for example, he will try to organize a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, even formally, without any obligations, but the problem is that I do not know to what extent Russia will be ready to go to a meeting with Zelensky without preliminary agreements that will be recorded during the meeting. Ukraine will have to concede something. And there are many-sided issues to consider, given that the START 3 treaty expires next year. There is a need for strategic stability. If this treaty does not exist, there is no international strategic stability treaty; in general, nothing will hold back. During the meeting, they will not have time to discuss everything. The US side will set its own priority issues; therefore, we cannot say how the meeting will end.
- Ukrainian President Zelensky said that the threat of American missiles forced Moscow to agree to negotiations. In your opinion, what impact can this initiative have on the continuation of the Russian-Ukrainian war?
- Considering that we do not have enough information, missiles can be an effective weapon, but if their number is small, it is difficult for them to change the situation on the front. 2nd: Who should be the leading operator? We know that there are no specialized units in the Ukrainian troops trained to use such equipment; therefore, consultation is needed. If they are directly or indirectly involved, it means the United States has confirmed it is one of the actors in the war. This will affect not only Ukraine but also Russia-US relations, which Russia was trying to separate to achieve success here and use against Ukraine in bilateral ties.
