Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will today hold a private four-hour meeting
DONALD Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold a private meeting today. This alarming footage will no doubt get a mention.
DONALD Trump and Vladimir Putin will today have a private four-hour meeting in Helsinki, in what will be one of the most anticipated world summits in years.
The constant warm exchanges between the pair has been well-documented since the election, leading to this delightful mural:
But behind the scenes, the relationship isn’t all fun and vaguely homoerotic adjectives.
According to a new Axios report, Mr Trump was privately fuming over a video Mr Putin displayed to a global audience earlier this year, which appeared to be a not-so-subtle threat to the US leader.
Nuclear weapons will no doubt be a major talking point tonight — but how’s it all going to go down?
THE VIDEO THAT ENRAGED TRUMP
Back in March, two weeks before his re-election, Vladimir Putin gave a national address showing off the Kremlin’s military might.
In his speech, the Russian leader included a concept video backing up his claims of nuclear weapons and “invincible” missiles that could travel at lightning speed.
“Any use of nuclear weapons against Russia or its allies, any kind of attack, will be regarded as a nuclear attack against Russia, and in response, we will take action instantaneously no matter what the consequences are,” he said. “Nobody should have any doubt about that.”
But there was one image in particular that incensed Donald Trump.
As Mr Putin spoke, a video showing multiple nuclear warheads raining down onto the state of Florida flashed behind him.
The choice to specifically use Florida as the target — the home of the President’s Mar-a-Lago estate — while touting his country’s firepower in the face of Western challenges, was not lost on White House officials.
“It was certainly unfortunate to have watched the video animation that depicted a nuclear attack on the United States,” US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told CNN at the time. “That’s certainly something that we did not enjoy watching. We don’t regard that as the behaviour of a responsible international player.”
Russian nuclear weapons pointing towards the US presents one of the greatest threats to the country’s national security.
But Mr Trump never directly addressed it. Well, not in public.
Mr Trump gave Mr Putin a phone call following his re-election as Russian president on March 18.
The phone call made headlines after Mr Trump congratulated the leader, despite receiving specific warnings from his national security advisers not to do so.
But according to Axios, the president lashed out at the Russian leader during the private call, in a marked change from their usual conversations.
Mr Trump reportedly told Mr Putin it was “outrageous” to air the video, adding that “Theresa (May) and Angela (Merkel) agree with me”.
“I’ve already increased defence spending, modernised our nuclear weapons,” he said, according to the source. “We can do more, so if you want to do an arms race you’ll lose.”
Why is this relevant? Because Russia’s nuclear weapons are set to be a major talking point as the pair have a private meeting this week.
Here’s a breakdown of the main talking points they’re likely to cover:
NUCLEAR ARMS DEAL
A nuclear arms deal is set to be one major focus point for the two world leaders.
The pair collectively control more than 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear stockpile.
Speaking alongside British Prime Minister Theresa May during his recent visit to the UK, Mr Trump said he would discuss potentially reducing them.
“The proliferation is a tremendous, I mean to me, it’s the biggest problem in the world — nuclear weapons. Biggest problem in the world,” he said. “So if we could do something to substantially reduce them — I mean, ideally, get rid of them. Maybe that’s a dream. But certainly it’s a subject that I’ll be bringing up.”
A likely way they might be able to agree on this is to renegotiate the New Strategic Arms Treaty (New START), an agreement made in 2010 limiting the number of nuclear warheads, heavy bombers and ballistic missiles each country can deploy.
Both leaders have previously expressed an interest in extending the treaty, which is due to expire in 2021.
Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2018
RUSSIA’S INTERFERENCE IN THE ELECTION
Mr Trump assured reporters he would raise the issue of the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
On Friday, special counsel Robert Mueller announced indictments against 12 Russian spies, accusing them of hacking the computer networks of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and releasing damaging information to sway the vote.
The revelation led to public calls for Mr Trump to cancel the summit.
At the NATO summit last week, Mr Trump told reporters he would “of course” mention it — but it didn’t sound like a talking point he’d seek to linger on.
“What am I going to do? He may deny it,” he added. “All I can do is say, ‘Did you?’ And, ‘Don’t do it again.’ But he may deny it.”
Mr Putin has repeatedly denied accusations that Russian spies attempted to interfere with the election and sway voters, and Mr Trump has repeatedly defended them.
THE CONFLICT IN SYRIA
Russia and the United States are opponents in a proxy war in Syria — Russia is an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while the US supports the fighters who want to remove him.
Around 2000 American troops are still in Syria, tasked with defeating Islamic State, but Mr Trump wants to remove them.
The question is now whether Mr Trump will abandon US control of the region in exchange for promises from Mr Putin that may or may not even be filled. The Russian leader has a history of backing out of peace deals with the US, and has caused chaos of its own by dropping bombs near US troop positions.
Whether Mr Putin will actually abide by any promises made to Mr Trump is another question entirely.
THE ANNEXATION OF CRIMEA
Russia’s forcible annexation of Crimea is expected to come up, with Mr Trump hinting last week that he might even support the takeover.
A few days ago, Mr Trump was asked if he would accept the annexation. Bear in mind that Mr Putin seized the land using military force, despite his own government signing a series of international agreements vowing not to do this, and that no country had annexed the territory of a European neighbour since World War II.
Mr Trump responded: “We’re going to have to see.”
Failing to hold Mr Putin accountable risks sending a message that the leader of the free world will let the Kremlin get away with anything.
In a recent statement, Arizona Senator John McCain urged the President to cancel the summit if he is “not prepared to hold Putin accountable”.
“President Trump must be willing to confront Putin from a position of strength and demonstrate that there will be a serious price to pay for his ongoing aggression towards the United States and democracies around the world,” he said. “If President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward.”
WHERE DOES AUSTRALIA STAND ON THE MEETING?
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has urged Donald Trump not to “reward Russia for its behaviour”.
She noted a string of Moscow’s misdeeds, telling ABC radio: “I think Russia has many questions to answer, including its involvement with Syria, backing the Assad regime and its use of chemical weapons, and there are a number of matters that I would certainly raise with President Putin.”
Ms Bishop said the conversation with President Putin would be easier “if you’re not asking for anything from him”, noting Australia’s own issues with Moscow.
“We certainly have issues with Russia and we certainly have issues with President Putin,” she said last week.
“I believe that Russia should be called to account and take state responsibility for the downing of MH17.
“We’re coming up to the fourth anniversary of the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines MH17, when 298 people were killed, including 38 Australians.
“I believe that Russia should be held to account for the presence of the Russian-manufactured nerve agent novichok in the United Kingdom which has resulted in the death of a British citizen.
“These are matters that I would raise if I were meeting with President Putin.
“The United States has its own foreign policy, its own priorities. We would urge the United States to not reward Russia for its bad behaviour, and certainly not invite Russia back into the G8.”
But she also suggested there would be a “wait and see” approach.
“We know what he’s going to talk about with the NATO partners because that’s been flagged for some time, but I’m not aware of the specific issues that President Trump wishes to raise with President Putin, and no doubt that will be made public very soon.”
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