According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday, August 15, in Anchorage, Alaska, is an attempt to clarify positions, not a concession.
He stated this in an interview with "Friends in the Morning", published on the US State Department website.
Rubio noted that the previous three or four phone conversations between the two leaders did not lead to the expected results, so this time Trump considers it necessary to meet with Putin in person.
"People need to understand that for President Trump, the meeting is not a concession," Rubio noted.
The US Secretary of State responded and to press statements that the meeting with the US president is a victory for Putin and that in this way he has come out of isolation.
"The meeting is what you do to understand the positions and make a decision. I want to have all the facts. I want to look this guy in the eye. And that's what the president wants to do," the secretary of state said.
Rubio believes that during the meeting they will find out pretty quickly whether this approach has a chance of success.
It will not be easy. This war means a lot to Putin. I mean, last month the Russians lost - I think in July they lost 60,000 Russians - not missing, but dead, he said.
The talks between Trump and Putin may be important for the bilateral relationship between these countries, but decisions on Ukraine cannot be made at this meeting. This was stated by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine is preparing a provocation to disrupt the Russian-American talks scheduled for August 15. Immediately before the summit in Alaska, the Ukrainian armed forces have planned a provocative strike on one of the densely populated residential areas in the Kharkiv region, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported, quoted by TASS.