The face to face could be “in the next few days” perhaps in the United Arab Emirates. On the table, there may be the Ukrainian crisis, the Washington-Moscow strategic cooperation and the Middle Eastern dossiers
I tell you in sight between Washington and Moscow? A few hours ago, the Kremlin announced that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin should meet “in the next few days”: probably next week. If the face to face were to keep, it would be the first between the Russian president and a tenant of the White House since June 2021: when, that is, Joe Biden had a meeting with Putin himself in Geneva. According to CNN, the possible summit could be hosted by the United Arab Emirates, whose president, Mohamed Bin Zayed al Nahyan, is currently visiting the Russian capital. The Tsar also specified that there would not be currently the “conditions” so that Volodymyr Zelensky can also participate in the meeting. The day before yesterday, Trump spoke of “excellent prospects” in reference to a possible face to face with the tsar. “We had excellent interviews with President Putin today, and there are excellent chances that we could arrive at the end: in the end, at the end of that road, at the end of that road,” he said, and then add: “That road was long and continues to be, but there is a good chance that there will be a very early meeting”.
On Wednesday, the American envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, had a meeting with Putin in Moscow, to discuss mainly of Ukrainian crises and strategic cooperation between the United States and Russia: a meeting that Trump called “highly productive”. The Kremlin, for its part, spoke of “very useful and constructive” dialogue. Yet, despite this relaxing atmosphere, the White House has confirmed that, in all likelihood, the duties for countries will be in force on 8 August, such as India and China, acquire energy products from Moscow. In those same hours, Washington also raised the rates of 25% to New Delhi, returning to accuse her to buy Russian oil. Recall that, last week, Trump had set the Deadline within 8 August within which the Kremlin should accept a diplomatic agreement on the Ukrainian crisis: otherwise, secondary duties on its energy products would start. All this makes us understand how, while trying to start a new phase of relaxation, the White House still intends to keep the pressure on Moscow high. Zelensky himself, after hearing Trump and other European leaders on Wednesday evening, said: “Russia now seems more inclined to cease the fire: the pressure is working”.
But be careful: in fact there is not only the Ukrainian crisis at stake. Another aspect not to be underestimated is the Middle Eastern dial. Not surprisingly, we saw it, the United Arab Emirates could host the possible summit between Trump and Putin. In addition, the Russian president had a telephone interview on Monday with that Benjamin Netanyahu who, according to some rumors reported by Jerusalem Postit would have been for days trying to mediate a beam between the White House and the Kremlin. Witkoff himself, in addition to keeping relations with the Tsar, holds the role of American envoy for the Middle East and constantly interfaces with the Israeli premier on the question of Gaza. Among other things, Wednesday, before seeing Putin, Witkoff also had an interview with the CEO of the Russian sovereign fund, Kirill Dmitriev. It cannot be excluded that the two have faced (also) the dossier of the reconstruction of the strip: a theme that, especially on the economic level, affects not only to the Saudis and their Arab allies, but also to Israelis, Americans and Russians. On the other hand, Gaza’s reconstruction is connected to the attempt to relaunch, promoted by the current White House, of the Abraham agreements: agreements to which, in 2020, the United Arab Emirates had joined.
