It was a bargain. In 1867, the United States paid $ 7.2 million to the Russian Empire for Alaska. The American Minister of Foreign Affairs William H. Seward convinced the Russians to sell their colony to the US, which Alaska recognized in 1959 as 49th. On this historically charged place – some Russian nationalists are still angry about the transaction – on Friday the American President Trump and his Russian colleague Putin meet for top consultations. Even now it is about the ownership of territory. Ukrainian territory, that is.
Unlike William Seward, a fierce opponent of slavery, Donald Trump is a man without principles. His tough language at Putin disappeared this weekend like snow in the sun. After two ultimatums and threats of tightened sanctions against Russia, he suddenly invited the resident of the Kremlin to come and negotiate on the end of the war in Ukraine on Beringstraat.
Initially, the US wanted the Ukrainian president Zensky to get a place at the table, but the Russians didn’t like that. No problem, Donald Trump thought, then we do without the leader whose country it is. Of course there was a protest against this decision from Ukraine and Europe. It is still unclear whether that will lead to an adjustment of the invitation policy for the top meeting.
Trump and Putin prefer to use geopolitics as usual in the nineteenth century – when the big boys distributed the map among themselves – but an agreement on Ukraine without Ukraine is worthless, if only because it will not lead to the end of the war.
Based on diplomatic sources, various scenarios go around in international media for the agreement in Alaska. It is clear that Putin will focus on the annexation of Ukrainian territory. To this end, the American envoy Steve Witkoff would lobby with European allies for a two -phase plan in which Ukraine first withdraws from the provinces of Loehansk and Donetsk. Then the conversation about peace would start.
However, there are sounds that Witkoff may have misunderstood the Russian proposal – and that Putin also wants Ukrainian withdrawal from the provinces of Cherson and Zaporizja. Closing real estate deals-the work of Witkoff before he was sent by Trump as a peace pigeon to the Middle East and Russia-is apparently something different than negotiating with a conversation partner for whom the blood of thousands is no more than a bagatel.
The chaotic creation of the top Friday gives little hope for a good outcome. That is regrettable, because the war in Ukraine must come to an end. The Ukrainians have insufficient weapons and soldiers to settle the plea to their advantage. In fact, the Russians have recently been giving slow terrain gain. The sooner there is serious talk by the warring parties, the better.
It is therefore crucial that President Zensky can still participate in the negotiations. If hard choices have to be made about the future of his country – for example about giving up territory – this is only possible with the permission of the Ukrainians themselves. Cow trade without them is unacceptable.