This week Donald trump and Vladimir Putin "face to face" on one of the busiest meetings between the two heads of state for many years, is rich in political, geostrategic, and personal storylines.
At the G20 summit in Germany, the trump will meet a person who, according to American intelligence agencies, the intelligence conceived a plot to derail last year's election and help him to take power. Over the past 4 years trump lavishly praised Putin, whom the United States is positioned as the enemy. Putin, a former KGB officer, called trump a "bright and talented", but warned that America is in the grip of a political "schizophrenia".
Extraordinary circumstances and political consequences of their negotiations in Hamburg guarantee that their meeting this week and any meeting in front of the cameras in the less formal moments of the "big twenty" will be carefully studied.
Trump is under the extreme political pressure to raise the question of alleged Russian interference in the elections of 2016.
He must also avoid any impromptu interaction with Putin, who will be playing in the statements of his opponents that he somehow is under the influence of the Russian leader in a time when special counsel is investigating whether there was any collusion between his aides and Russian officials before the election.
"The momentum in relations between the two major nuclear powers in the world today is so negative that it is time to make a stop on anything that looks like a further escalation or deterioration," said Matthew Rojansky, Director of the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
"It is really only possible at the presidential level", - he added.
sections: Politics, World News, Accidents |