US President Donald Trump Invites Russian President Vladimir Putin

When it comes to US and Russia’s relationship it is always sour, recently US expelled 60 Russian Intelligence officers in US and closed a Russian Consulate in Seattle over the killing of an ex-spy in UK. But what stuns everyone is the when US President Donald Trump has invited his arc rival Russian President Vladimir Putin for a face-to-face interaction recently.

Yes, Donald Trump has invited Vladimir Putin for a visit to the White House, according to a statement issued by Kremlin. An aide of the Russian President, Yury Ushakov, told that during the March 20th, a phone conversation of US President Donald Trump suggested that the first meeting could be held in Washington between the two leaders.

Yuri Ushakov also said, “If everything goes well, I hope that the American side would not refuse its proposal to discuss the possibility of organizing the summit talks.”

White House also has immediately confirmed about the talks between the leaders, with Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, issuing a statement, which emphasized that no date had been set. “As the president himself confirmed on March 20, hours after his last call with President Putin, the two had discussed a bilateral meeting in the ‘not-too-distant future”, she said. 

The news of the meeting has stunned the world because President Trump’s willingness to hold a close meeting with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin despite the growing evidence that Moscow poisoned an ex-spy Sergei Skripal, a former Soviet and Russian spy, was found unconscious on a bench next to his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury in UK, an attack that has over few days has deteriorated the relationship between Russia and the West countries to the lowest point in years.

Ten days after the attack on the spy, UK has expelled 23 Russian diplomats out of the country because London blamed Moscow for the attack. Though Moscow denies any involvement in the strike, unsurprisingly and unpersuasively.

Showing solidarity with UK, US also has expelled 60 Russian Intelligence officers in US and closed a Russian Consulate in Seattle. More than 20 other countries followed the suit, saying they would kick out over 100 Russian diplomats and intelligence officers from their respective countries. In retaliation, Russia removed 150 Western diplomats from the country on March 29 effectively a like-for-like response and the hostile war is on.

Trump has not referred to the Salisbury attack or the expulsions in his recent remarks or tweets but it was the biggest ever US expulsion of alleged intelligence officials at one time which included 48 diplomats attached to the bilateral diplomatic mission in Washington and New York and 12 attached to the Russian mission to the United Nations. But recently the US state department has said Russia would be able to replace the expelled officials.

Russia made it clear that since the situation now with US is not good, it is considering giving thought to the invite that US President Trump has extended to its President Putin. “Against the backdrop of these events, it’s difficult to discuss the possibility of holding a summit,” Ushakov said. “We want to believe that the discussions on a proposed summit will begin,” he added. “We want to hope that … one day, at one time or another we can arrive at the start of a serious and constructive dialogue.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin was never a good friend of USA. But US President Donald Trump desperately says that he wants a better relationship with Putin and hopes the US and Russia could work more closely together to solve global problems. Putin clearly doesn’t want that, because of the following reasons.

• Putin personally ordered an influence campaign during the 2016 presidential election to help Trump win, according to US Intelligence.
• Russia works against the United States in Syria by propping up Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
• Russia is accused of providing weapons and other assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, while the US military currently helps Afghan forces fight the insurgent group.
• Moscow helps North Korea avoid sanctions on its economy, but the Trump administration uses sanctions as a central component of its “maximum pressure” strategy on Pyongyang.

 

So now when the invite is extended by US amidst the world wide protest against Russia, it is for everyone to see, how Russia responds to the invite giving an indication of a new equation which the world is waiting for.