Despite conflicting analyses of world conditions, there is a consensus that, the Trump and Putin meeting could potentially reduce international tensions and pave the way for resolving some of the calamities such as the Syrian crises.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his counterpart the US President Donald Trump next week in Hamburg North Germany. In other words, they will meet in the sideline of G20 summit according to the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov who brefied reporters on Thursday.
According to many analysts, relations between the two superpowers are not at the breaking point but on the threshold of a Third World War. The differences between the two superpowers are; the Ukrainian crisis, NATO expansion in East Europe, and civil war in Syria, where Moscow supports President Bashar al-Assad and the United States is supporting the opposition groups that are trying to overthrow him.
Periodically, Washington has provoked Moscow by launching missile attacks on an air base belonging to the Syrian government last April. The United States stated that the attack was initiated due to an alleged chemical weapon attack by the Assad regime that killed scores of civilians. On the other hand, Russia has rejected these allegations. On the other hand, the US’s ally Israel is attacking the Syrian Army, and this has provoked Russia repeatedly.
After the intervention of Russian troops in Ukraine following the revolution that erupted in 2014 and the annexation Crimea by Russia in March of that year along with support for the separatists, economic sanctions have been implemented by many countries of the world, such as the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Union.
Russia has criticized the US sanctions on the Ukrainian conflict, and considered it as “hostile act”. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov stated that; “the US sanctions were hostile actions by the outgoing administration of President Barack Obama and that Russia would expand its list of sanctions against the United States in response to this”.
Late in 2016, Donald Trump became the new president of the US. Trump, during his election campaign, declared that; he would create better relations with Russia. However, after he won the elections, he failed to establish better relationship with the Russians. On the contrary, the bilateral ties are worsening particularly in the Syrian Civil War. For the first time, the US and Russian leader will meet vis-a-vis in the G20 summit held in Hamburg, Germany.
In the meeting, the two leaders will definitely brin many issues to the table, such as terrorism, the civil war in Syria and the conflict in Ukraine. Besides that, they will discuss the peaceful solutions to those crises.
The Russian President, Vladimir Putin wants to halt NATO’s expansion in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus, and also claims that his anti-EU stance reflects a state of self-defence and represents a response to the sanctions imposed on Russia. On the other hand, the Americans want to stall Russia’s aggressive policies such as annexing Crimea and the military intervention in Donetsk.
All in all, the US-Russian relations will be ameliorate, after the meeting between the two leaders only if NATO ceases its expansionist policy in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus, while Russia contrarily puts an end to its aggressive policies toward the EU. In the Syrian case, Trump’s administration primary priority is fighting terrorism in Syria and whole the region. Furthermore, the Russians are very keen to overwhelm terrorist groups and keep Assad in power.
