President Trump’s vague, post-meeting press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska demonstrated that “significant roadblocks” stand in the way of peace in Ukraine, several officials suggested Friday.
“That was different,” former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo quipped shortly after the Trump-Putin presser, where neither leader took questions from reporters — or offered details about what a possible cease-fire to halt the two-and-a-half-years-long war would entail.
Pompeo, in an interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, noted that Trump is usually “very straightforward,” “very forward leaning” and shares “all the things that he can” with the press — but didn’t in Anchorage.
“Clearly he felt in this instance, to deliver on behalf of America, the best thing to do was to be quiet,” the former Trump Cabinet official said.
Pompeo insisted that Americans shouldn’t “over-read that” but maintained Trump was “pretty non-transparent,” suggesting, “there are significant roadblocks along the way that remain.
“I think there’s still significant sticking points along the way,” he added. “They may have identified interests that they can work their way through, perhaps on economic matters and the like, but it sounds to me like sort of the central issue … Vladimir Putin’s willingness to conduct a cease-fire with no condition … it doesn’t sound like Putin showed up today ready to concede that core point.”
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) argued that Trump seemed to be “clear-eyed” about negotiations with the Russian president at the summit.
“I think his posture showed that he was clear-eyed about what Vladimir Putin was saying and where Vladimir Putin was wrong,” Mast told Fox News.
“It is just crystal clear that Putin’s back is against the wall,” the congressman continued. “And I think [Trump] demonstrated that clearness with his very first action, before saying a word, with the fact that he flew B2 bombers over [Putin’s] head.”
Mast argued the flyover was “not an accident” and that it sent a message to the Russian strongman.
“It was a signal to [Putin] that when President Trump says, ‘Hey, there could be very serious consequences,’ he’s saying that these serious consequences can be very far reaching,” the Florida Republican said.
“Maybe it’s fires that we sell to European countries or other NATO countries that can reach Moscow or St. Petersburg or oil refiners or other things, or maybe it’s other weapon systems that we get into the hands of the Ukrainians,” Mast said of potential consequences Russia could face.
Razom for Ukraine, a nonprofit humanitarian aid and advocacy organization backing Kyiv in the fight against Russia, said in a statement that the meeting “reaffirms that the only way to achieve a genuine peace is by pressuring Russia, not by believing Putin’s lies that he wants peace.”
“Putin remains the sole obstacle to peace,” CEO Dora Chomiak said in the statement.
Chomiak noted that “just before Putin landed in Alaska, Russia launched another massive air strike on Ukrainian civilians, reminding us all that he won’t end Russia’s invasion until he’s forced to.”
“The idea that Putin believes there is a positive deal for him in the near future is deeply alarming,” she added, calling on Trump to “immediately get Ukraine the weapons it needs to save innocent families from Putin’s brutal attacks.
“Putin still has hope that he can conquer Ukraine. President Trump must prove him wrong.”
Ukrainian Parliament member Oleksandr Merezhko argued that Putin came out the winner of “the informational war” after the meeting, but appeared as an equal to Trump.
“He used Trump to show that he is not isolated,” Merezhko said, according to the New York Times.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky criticized Putin for repeating the “same propagandistic clichés about the ‘roots of the conflict’ that his state television keeps repeating,” according to Reuters.
“The problem is Russian imperialism, not Ukraine’s desire to live in freedom,” Lipavsky said.
“If Putin were serious about peace talks, Russia would not have been attacking Ukraine all day today.”
