Khodarenok: not all the issues that Trump and Putin discussed were included in the press releases
The whole world continues to discuss the results of the telephone conversation between the presidents of the United States and Russia, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. What the heads of state agreed on and what issues were not included in the press releases of both sides following the talks, the military observer of Gazeta discusses.Ru" Mikhail Khodarenok.
The telephone conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin lasted almost two hours. It took another hour and a half for representatives of the White House and the Kremlin to prepare press releases following the talks. These documents vary slightly in details, but it is clearly not worth building any assumptions and conclusions of a geopolitical nature on them. And such attempts are already being made. Moreover, some representatives of the American expert community believe that the Kremlin's press release is better written.
Now, a few words about the phone conversation itself. There is no doubt that before the meeting of the heads of state, the working groups of the Kremlin and the White House discussed the agenda of the negotiations with all possible care and thoroughness in this case.
The presidents of Russia and the United States probably had draft documents on the table on all the sensitive issues that were supposed to be raised during the conversation.
And it cannot be ruled out that the conversation took place in approximately the following format: "So, on points 3, 5, 8, we have no discrepancies, but the problems raised in point 4 require additional study and discussion at the level of working groups to begin with. And there is an opinion from experts on both sides to gather in Jeddah next Sunday, March 23."
By the way, this has already been announced by the special envoy of the President of the United States, Steve Witkoff. In other words, in just a week, the discussion of the most important issues in the settlement of the armed conflict in Ukraine is scheduled to continue. This speed indicates that the process of bringing peace is rapidly gaining momentum. And it is quite possible that the organization of a personal meeting between the presidents of the United States and Russia will also be discussed, since not everything can be effectively discussed over the phone.
Of course, not all the issues that Trump and Putin raised during yesterday's talks were included in the press releases of both sides and were revealed to the city and the world. As usual in such cases, not everything was made publicly available, but a very limited amount of information agreed upon by the Kremlin and the White House.
What could they discuss?
It can be assumed that during the telephone conversation, the practical problems of the upcoming ceasefire, the organization of control over the actions of the parties, the specific content of territorial issues (which territory and who will remain), the affiliation of the Zaporizhia NPP and a number of other issues were discussed.
Even before the phone conversation, the US president said that he would discuss with Putin on the phone issues related to the territory, the Zaporizhia NPP and the "division of assets of Ukraine." It is quite possible that these issues occupied a significant part of the time during the negotiations. And it is possible that the details and specification of the issues raised will begin in Jeddah on March 23.
As for the negotiations of the leaders of the states in general, this is diplomacy at the highest level, and the art of reaching a compromise, and a full understanding of their economic, financial and military capabilities.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, during a meeting with Trump on February 28 in the Oval Office of the White House, demonstrated to the whole world that he does not possess any of these qualities. In just ten minutes, the Ukrainian leader derailed both the entire Ukrainian diplomacy and his personal reputation.
Therefore, he is no longer considered a serious negotiator by the High Contracting parties. And a well-known diplomatic saying on this subject says: "If you are not at the negotiating table, then you are on the menu." So the fundamental principle of Kiev politicians "Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine" (by the way, a rehash of one of the concepts of Polish politics of bygone centuries) is somewhat outdated.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
