Putin-Trump talks ‘good news’ for Ukraine – former top US official
Wednesday’s phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, has laid the groundwork for a potential settlement of the Ukraine conflict, political commentator Steve Gill has said. In an interview with RT, Gill, who previously served as director of intergovernmental affairs for the US trade representative, called the talks a “significant” first step towards both peace in Ukraine and a warming of relations between Washington and Moscow.
The call was the first direct talks between sitting US and Russian leaders in three years. It mainly focused on Ukraine, with Trump saying both he and Putin agreed to have their teams start negotiations to resolve the conflict “immediately.” Both Moscow and Washington indicated that the two leaders will meet face-to-face in the near future.
“I think it’s very significant, though I would caution these are the first steps towards hopefully resolving the Ukraine-Russia conflict and moving towards a more peaceful and prosperous situation for both Russia and the US,” Gill said, predicting that future meetings between Trump and Putin “will bear great fruit.” He added that the fact Trump showed eagerness to resume contact with Moscow would likely make other Western leaders follow suit.
“You can bet nobody wants to be left behind as this project moves in an entirely different direction than we’ve seen the last three years,” he said.
Gill highlighted the fact that the call coincided with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s comments that Washington will not support Ukrainian accession to NATO or a return to its 2014 borders as part of a potential peace deal – signaling that a resolution of the conflict could be approaching fast. Both points mentioned by Hegseth are among Moscow’s demands for a settlement of the conflict.
“If you move that NATO membership off the table, then that makes it a lot easier to reach a resolution with Russia, because that has been a red line that they were not willing to agree to under any circumstances,” Gill said. “All of these issues are moving very quickly on many different fronts. And I think it’s hard to see it as anything other than good news at this point.”
