Since 2000, 5 presidents have changed in the USA. During this time, the unchanging head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, met with American presidents about 48 times. Current Time recalls the main and pivotal meetings, reports UNN.
Details
The publication recalls the first meeting of Vladimir Putin, who at that time had just taken office and was settling in as the head of the Kremlin. This was a meeting with US President Bill Clinton in June 2000.
The first meeting of Vladimir Putin and then-US President Bill Clinton. Russia and the US then agreed to reduce the threat of nuclear war in the world.
Then Clinton and Putin agreed to destroy 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium each – material for nuclear warheads. Throughout the rest of his presidential term, Clinton did not deviate from the formula that the administrations of the Russian Federation and the US have many points of contact.
But then a new president appeared in the US - G. W. Bush. In June 2001, as Current Time notes, a turning point occurred. This refers to the personal acquaintance of President Bush Jr. and Putin.
After this meeting, Bush will utter the famous phrase "I looked him in the eye and felt his soul"
Later, Bush's political opponents reproached him for his naivety regarding Boris Yeltsin's successor.
Senator J. McCain twisted Bush's words – "when I looked into Putin's eyes, I saw 3 letters there – KGB."
But Bush Jr. assured journalists that he wanted to establish the most trusting relationship with Putin.
Other key moments during this period:
- after 2001, there were some results of the US-Russian partnership, in particular, an agreement on the reduction of strategic offensive arms;
- in 2007, Bush even hosted Putin at his ranch in Texas. A year later, at the NATO summit, 4 months before Russia's invasion of Georgia, Bush sought, as its participants determined, to "protect Ukraine from the Kremlin."
According to participants, at the 2008 summit, Putin told Bush that "Ukraine is not a state." Then there were hostilities in Georgia, which US President Bush Jr. condemned.
After a series of dramatic events during this period, the former probable trust between the US and Russian presidents was gone.
Next decades
The first personal meeting of the new US President Barack Obama with then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took place in 2009.
In a short time, Barack Obama develops a certain distance and obvious skepticism towards Putin.
Putin replaced Medvedev as president of the Russian Federation - and a new meeting with Barack Obama took place. The leaders of the countries agreed to counter international terrorism. Obama welcomed the holding of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
After 2013-14
A new meeting with Obama for the Kremlin dictator took place in 2015.
Behind is Russia's occupation of Crimea, the unleashing of military actions in eastern Ukraine. A new meeting between Obama and Putin. No one answered about how the negotiations went
Then there was the meeting of the new US President Donald Trump and Putin in 2017. Then, after the negotiations, Trump smiled and radiated optimism.
We had very good conversations, now we will have another joint conversation. They will continue. We expect many positive developments for the Russian Federation and the United States ahead
In 2018, outrage in the press was caused by the question of whom Trump trusted more regarding the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections - Putin or his own intelligence agencies?
"I trust both sides," Trump said then.
New times, a year before the full-scale invasion
2021. A brief meeting between Joe Biden and Putin. Its outcome – the parties agreed to resume dialogue on political stability.
Total distrust of former US President Biden towards Putin occurred after the start of Russia's large-scale war against Ukraine.
"Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia," Biden said then.
Recall
The Putin-Trump summit in Alaska ended without an agreement on a ceasefire in Ukraine. Trump only received an invitation to Moscow, and the war in Ukraine will likely continue, writes the British publication The Independent.
US President Donald Trump failed to obtain any commitments from Russian dictator Vladimir Putin regarding an end to the war in Ukraine after the Alaska summit, which "began with fanfare but ended in an anticlimax."
The Trump-Putin summit in Alaska brought no benefit and no real progress in countering Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine. At the same time, the meeting with Trump in Anchorage was to some extent a "victory" for Putin. But in the end - no truce, no peace. This is the opinion of Wolfgang Ischinger, former German ambassador to the US and Great Britain.