Although Washington and Moscow have provided few details about the Aug. 15 Alaska summit between Presidents Trump and Putin, a few things can be safely asserted at this point. First: Some sort of preliminary agreement has to already be in place, or neither head of state would accept a meeting that could end in stark failure. If that happened, the odds are very high that the conflict would escalate sharply right after the summit.
Second: There are serious security concerns on both sides. The meeting is on American territory, and there is an outstanding ICC warrant for Putin’s arrest. The Americans have no doubt provided assurances, but don’t rule out a British-run “rogue” third party trying to act—not to mention that London would be pleased to see both Trump and Putin assassinated.
Third: The British are totally freaked out about the summit, and their apoplexy will assuredly increase over the next six days. They are particularly concerned about the fact that both Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov and Putin special envoy Kirill Dmitriev have suggested that economic cooperation deals between the U.S. and Russia could be on the table. The Daily Telegraph complains that “Putin has received yet another gift from Mr. Trump: a bilateral summit, without any other party present.… Mr. Dmitriev specializes in tempting Americans like Mr. Witkoff with vast schemes to develop Russia’s natural resources and exploit its critical minerals, which would yield enough riches to pave Washington in gold if only small problems like Ukraine and the security of Europe could be disposed of.”
The Telegraph hopes that others in Trump’s entourage can stop the worst from occurring. “But U.S. officials at the summit should still be prepared to break the glass [on the fire alarm] and set off the sirens just in case.”
