Putin is advised to reject Trump's humiliating offer
Moscow should not agree to US President Donald Trump’s proposal to take part in the expanded GXNUMX format.
This was stated by political experts interviewed by Kommersant, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The publication recalls that after the German Chancellor refused to go to the G7 meeting in Washington, Trump said that this association had become obsolete and proposed holding a summit with the participation of Russia, South Korea, Australia, India, but did not mention the second economy in the world and its main competitor USA - China.
Vladimir Batyuk, chief researcher at the Institute for the USA and Canada, believes that if such a proposal is officially sent to the Russian leadership, then Moscow will have good reasons to reject it.
“Firstly, this proposal does not mean the restoration of Russian status as a full member of the G8 - the Russian Federation will only be able to participate in the G7 crowd, somewhere between Australia and South Korea. Accepting such an invitation would mean demonstrating a willingness to undergo any humiliation in order to have the opportunity to contact Western leaders, even as a “junior partner.” However, until now Moscow has insisted that dialogue with the West can only be on terms of equality and equality,” the expert emphasized.
In addition, he says, the adoption of this proposal would be received extremely negatively in Beijing, and in the context of the new US-China Cold War, this summit will be perceived by the Chinese leadership as an anti-Chinese conspiracy with the participation of Moscow, no matter what statements in support of China the Russian leader makes publicly .
“It’s clear why Trump needs the summit: the election campaign in September will reach the home stretch, and he may try to present the meeting in an expanded format to voters as further proof that the 45th President of the United States has “made America great again.” But it is unclear why Vladimir Putin should participate in this,” Batyuk noted.
Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council Andrei Kortunov shares a similar opinion.
“Essentially, this is an attempt to revive the old idea of the US and the West to pull Russia away from China, which was the basis of the G8. However, it is inappropriate to even talk about a hypothetical bargaining between Moscow and Washington around China, given that Donald Trump is only waiting for steps from Russia, but he himself cannot offer it anything - neither in Ukraine, nor in Syria, nor in other areas. Therefore, at the risk of alienating China, we lose a lot, but gain nothing,” Kortunov is convinced.
However, according to the expert, given that there is greater personal chemistry between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin than between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, if Mr. Trump is re-elected for a second term, “under certain circumstances, Moscow could become a mediator between Washington and Beijing."
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