Germany indicated a red line after the summit in the US. Merza’s Strong Words

natemat.pl 2 weeks ago
During the gathering of the president of the United States and European leaders in Washington, a number of arrangements were made. They concern the Ukraine-Russia Summit and circumstantial safety guarantees for Ukraine from the US.


The most tangible consequence of this summit is the fundamental agreement of Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenski for their meeting. Donald Trump wrote on his community portal fact Social that he spoke by telephone with Putin and is preparing specified a bilateral meeting.

Zelenski confirmed he was ready for them. The Kremlin, on the another hand, reported that Putin was open to the thought of direct talks with Ukraine.

Tripartite Putin-Zelenski-Trump summit


According to the information provided by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, specified a gathering may take place “in the next 2 weeks”. Its exact date and place were not initially known. French president Emmanuel Macron proposed Geneva as the gathering venue. The Washington Summit agreed that the gathering should be held in Europe. Last time Putin and Zelenski met in individual in late 2019 in Paris, thanks to German-French mediation.

After the gathering of Volodymyr Zelenski and Vladimir Putin, there is to be a tripartite summit with Trump. It is intended to address the exact conditions for peace between Russia and Ukraine. In this case, the place and date of specified gathering are not yet known.

American safety guarantees


Chancellor Merz "very decisively" welcomed the fact that the US is "ready to supply safety guarantees and coordinate this with Europeans". The German government was informed that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wanted to make a concept on this matter. It is to be adopted before the tripartite gathering of Trump, Putin and Zelenski during a video conference with Trump and Europeans. According to the president of Ukraine, plans for safety guarantees for her will be formalised in the next 7 to 10 days.

Europeans proceed to anticipate guarantees akin to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which states that an attack on 1 of its associate States is tantamount to an attack on all. However, it is unclear whether Trump truly wants to give specified a far-reaching guarantee. It could mean that in the event of Russia's subsequent attack on Ukraine, US troops would intervene. Trump, like Putin, rejects Ukraine's accession to NATO.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte called the large step the fact that the president of the United States agreed to participate in safety guarantees. "This is truly a breakthrough and that is what makes a difference."

German peacekeeping troops in Ukraine


France and the United Kingdom have been discussing the establishment of European peacekeeping forces for Ukraine for a long time to warrant a ceasefire. After the Washington summit, Chancellor Merz did not give a clear answer to the question whether Germany would participate.

The German leader stressed that "it is besides early to give a final answer to this". He will discuss this issue with the government coalition in Berlin. It is besides a question of whether the Bundestag will gotta make "optional decisions requiring its mandate".

Merz: There is no coercion on territorial concessions


Merz again called Russia's unilateral territorial claims a red line in talks with Putin. Ukraine cannot "impose the ceding of territories," he said. The German Chancellor stressed that Russia's request to Donbas from Ukraine is comparable to the U.S. resignation from Florida.

However, this issue was not discussed at the Trump summit. Government circles have reported that Zelenski can only talk about losing territories if he receives "reliable safety guarantees".

The ceasefire case


Merz one more time called for an immediate ceasefire at the White home summit and called on Trump to "put force on Russia" to halt attacks on Ukraine.

However, the appeal was met with indifference from Trump. "We can work on an agreement while they fight," said the president of the United States in Washington. Trump already shared Putin's view that ending the fight was not a prerequisite for peace negotiations.

No sanctions from the US


Trump besides showed no willingness to exert force on Putin through fresh sanctions. Prior to the Alaska meeting, however, the US president threatened Putin with "very serious consequences" if the attacks on Ukraine continued.

(AFP/how)


Written by Dagmara Jakubczak


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