Le Figaro: What was said at the Alaska Summit and what wasn’t said

Le Figaro reported that there were plenty of potential topics for discussion between US President Donald Trump and his Russian guest, Vladimir Putin, but there was a largely silent atmosphere at the end of their press conference at the Alaska summit.

According to Le Figaro, Trump and Putin were likely discuss territorial concessions, secondary sanctions, nuclear energy, security guarantees, and a trade agreement, and substantial was announced in the end, and thus the summit left more questions than it answered, despite the friendly, even warm, tone that characterized the meeting.

Trump described the meeting as very productive, while Putin described it as constructive, reflecting the overall atmosphere of the summit, in which the US president went out of his way to welcome his Russian counterpart.

He rode with him in the Beast car, walked with him under B-2 stealth bombers, and was flanked by F-22 fighters on the ground, before exchanging handshakes and smiles.

Despite Trump’s “great disappointment with Putin,” and his statement after a previous conversation between them, “I told you, I was very upset about my conversation with President Putin,” there was no major clash between the two leaders, and this wasn’t expected, as happened with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to the White House in late February, when Trump and his Vice President J.D. Vance attacked him during a very insulting media interview, according to the newspaper.

What was said, according to the French newspaper, was that there was no disagreement, but no agreement either.

Therefore, we must wait for the next grand bargain that Trump boasted about last week, eager to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

He said, “We’re not there yet, but we’ve made progress… It’s now up to President Zelensky to get this done… I would also say that European countries should get involved a little bit, but that depends on President Zelensky, “Trump said in an interview with Fox News.

Trump proposed a trilateral summit with Ukraine, and Zelensky appeared more optimistic on the matter, saying, “We support President Trump’s proposal to hold a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the United States, and Russia… Ukraine confirmed that key issues can be addressed at the leaders’ level, and that a trilateral format is appropriate for this purpose”.

Everyone decided that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to move directly to a peace agreement that ends the war, not to a simple ceasefire agreement, which often doesn’t hold.

The French newspaper reported that the summit didn’t discuss the possibility of Ukraine making territorial concessions to Russia, which has annexed four Ukrainian regions and Crimea, although Trump indicated the need for a “territory swap,” and Zelensky didn’t address this issue.

Among the issues remaining unaddressed, Le Figaro notes, is the issue of a ceasefire pending a final peace agreement.

This is a demand sought by the Europeans in particular, and was recently affirmed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Meanwhile, the Russians, who are advancing militarily in Ukraine, are distancing themselves from it.

Initially, nothing was leaked about the matter, but hours later, Trump announced on his social media accounts that “everyone has decided that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to move directly to a peace agreement that ends the war, not a simple ceasefire agreement, which often doesn’t hold”.

It seems like that Washington is siding with Moscow on this key point of contention.

One issue that made some progress but wasn’t mentioned at the summit was the thorny issue of security guarantees for Ukraine.

On Saturday, the United States offered Ukraine “a security guarantee similar to NATO’s Article 5, which relates to collective defense, but without formal membership in the alliance”.

This proposal could be a way for Russia to promise not to allow Ukraine to join NATO, while guaranteeing Kyiv some level of military support, according to the newspaper.

Trump had threatened to impose secondary sanctions if negotiations failed, but that threat was no longer in place after the Alaska summit.

The US president, who didn’t announce new direct sanctions on Moscow, stated, “Thanks to what happened today, I don’t think I have to think about it”.

However, there will be no resumption of economic cooperation before a peace agreement.

Trump also didn’t go as far as lifting some of the current sanctions, as some Ukrainian and European observers had feared.

This is despite the fact that Russian Trade Minister Yuri Ushakov, who attended the summit, had previously indicated the possibility of establishing “large-scale projects of mutual benefit,” stressing that “the economic interests of our two countries converge in Alaska and the Arctic”.

Although Trump has, since his inauguration, raised the possibility of concluding a trade agreement with Moscow, particularly regarding rare earths, and although Trump spoke before the meeting about the existence of nuclear treaties related to nuclear deterrence, which he would discuss with Putin, he did not reveal anything about this point during the joint press conference.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that the two leaders did not discuss it during their meeting.

Le Figaro concluded that, in practice, no formal progress has been made, with silence remaining on all sensitive issues, such as Russia’s territorial claims.

Trump also appeared to rule out any economic restrictions on Russia to force it to negotiate, and he failed to tangibly outline the foundations of a major Russian-US deal, either on trade or the nuclear issue.