Trump’s One-on-One Meeting With Putin Expected to be Anti-Climaxed

By Danny R. Johnson – Washington, DC Correspondent

WASHINGTON, DC–Once again the American media outlets are placing too much suspense and hype of President Donald Trump scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in person on Friday at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

While it is unclear if the two have ever met before in person. But the meeting is hotly anticipated, given the cloud of suspicion around Moscow following its alleged interference in the 2016 campaign. The White House says there is “no specific agenda” for the bilateral, but it will be an official meeting between the two, instead of the informal pull-aside that had been floated.

Russian officials have stated publicly that the meeting will have all the usual diplomatic courtesies afforded by the two nuclear super powers: “It is planned as a fully-fledged diplomatic meeting,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

The two have spoken several times by phone, but given that Trump has already hosted other major leaders in the U.S. — Xi Jinping of China, Narendra Modi of India, Theresa May of the United Kingdom, Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau among others — it has not gone unnoticed in Moscow such a summit has not been arranged for Putin, with the White House likely constrained by political considerations.

But the administration has consistently attempted to downplay the unique significance of such a meeting.

The White House would have us to believe that this is just a regular order of business. “Our relationship with Russia is not different from any other country in terms of us communicating to them, really, what our concerns are, where we see problems in the relationship, but also opportunities,” National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters on Saturday. “Secretary [of State Rex] Tillerson, obviously as he does with all countries in the world, has the lead for that and has been engaged in a broad, wide-ranging discussion.”

McMaster stressed: “So it won’t be different from our discussions with any other country, really.” Before entering office, Trump repeatedly talked up a new detente with Russia; relations between Washington and Moscow significantly frayed when then-President Barack Obama was in office.

“She speaks so badly of Putin, nuclear country, she speaks so badly… She uses it to try and get votes,” Trump told a crowd last October, talking about Obama’s former Secretary of State and his political rival, then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. “I said to myself, you know, how do you speak so badly of somebody? I mean, how are they ever going to get along? Wouldn’t it be great if we actually got along with Russia and other countries?”

And who can forget the March exclusive and controversial oval office visit with Trump by Russian Ambassador Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov.

A former US Ambassador to Russia laid out what President Trump needs to discuss with Putin when the two meet later at the G-20 summit in Germany. Michael McFaul, who served as ambassador to Russia in from 2012 to 2014, listed in a recent Washington Post column what he believes to be the most critical discussion points Trump must address with his Russian counterpart in the highly-anticipated meeting.

“Putin is a very experienced, effective interlocutor,” McFaul wrote to Trump. “He will come prepared for this meeting, seeking first to convince you that you both can work together, against common foes such as the ‘deep state’ and ‘American fake news.’ Putin wants the readout of this meeting to be ‘we had a very good meeting.’ Your objective is different.”

Russian interference in the 2016 election was the top issue McFaul said needed to be discussed.

“The president must signal clearly to the Russian president that you know exactly what he did,” he wrote. “Leaving any doubt will communicate insecurity or ignorance. You must state bluntly to Putin that Russia can never again violate our sovereignty by stealing and publishing our data, and must stop cyber probes of our electoral machinery.”

“You should hint at potential coercive responses, including sanctions and counter cyber actions, if we are attacked again,” he continued. “You could pledge to not interfere in Russian elections. If the meeting is going well, you might suggest that our two governments should begin negotiations regarding new norms about cyber activities in our two countries, possibly resulting in a treaty.”

McFaul said Trump should also discuss Russia’s involvement in Ukraine — signaling that he wants to lift the sanctions but only after Russia ceases to support Ukrainian separatists and implements a peace agreement — in addition to trade, the conflict in Syria, North Korean aggression, Russia’s ban on adoptions by Americans, and the Middle East.

Realistically, the vast majority of international scholars and career diplomats do not expect Trump to confront Putin with any embarrassing topics. Instead what is expected is a ‘get acquainted’ meeting with a brief discussion on such soft topics as eliminating ISIS and cooperating on world anti-terrorism efforts.

One topic that surely will be discussed is the two men’s disdain for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama – both men will agree they are more than happy they [Obama and Clinton] are no longer on the international scene.