Donald Trump boasts that he is a strong man. And that is exactly what he sees in Vladimir Putin.
The relationship between the US president and his Russian counterpart, who are preparing to meet in Alaska on Friday, is one between two leaders with enormous egos who say they admire each other but are not necessarily very close. They also deliberately maintain ambiguity in their relationship, with each thinking that this will put their interests first.
Trump and Putin were close to a bromance during the US Republican's first presidential term (2017-2021), but their relationship eventually became seriously complicated during Trump's second term. The US president is furious that the war in Ukraine is continuing, something he considers absurd.
Trump said he wants to test the waters on Friday, hoping for a constructive discussion with the Kremlin's master, to whom he is ready to say: "You have to stop this war".
Speaking about the upcoming meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured yesterday that President Trump needs to look Putin straight in the eye to form an opinion about him and the situation.
Trump considers it very respectful of his Russian counterpart that he will come to this summit on American soil. This will be only their second face-to-face meeting after the one in Helsinki in 2018. The two met five more times during Trump's first term, but this was on the sidelines of various high-level forums.
Trump assures that he has always maintained good relations with Putin, whom he defines as intelligent and boasts that he knows very well, although he recently called him “completely crazy”, at a time when Ukraine was bombarded with Russian missiles.
For his part, Putin welcomed the Republican billionaire's sincerity for his will to establish peace in Ukraine.
Since returning to power in January, the American president has achieved a spectacular rapprochement with Moscow and with the Russian leader, ousted by the international community since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The two leaders, who are respectively The 78-year-old and 72-year-old leaders spoke by phone for 90 minutes on February 12, signaling both men's ambitions to reset their relationship. They also sent their top diplomats for an unusual meeting in Saudi Arabia.
But after a series of fruitless talks and continued Russian bombing, Trump has grown increasingly impatient and said he is very disappointed with Putin. "Putin talks well during the day and starts bombing at night," Trump said recently after another phone call between the two.
In his recent book "War," Washington Post columnist Bob Woodward writes that Trump spoke with Putin seven times between leaving the White House in 2021 and returning to power in January of this year. The Kremlin denies it.
The memorable date in the relationship between Trump and Putin remains July 16, 2018 in Helsinki. After a two-hour private meeting, the two leaders testified to their desire to write a new chapter in relations between Washington and Moscow.
But the American president caused controversy, as he seemed to take at face value the Russian president's assurances that Moscow had not tried to influence the American presidential campaign in 2016, despite the conclusions of the FBI and American intelligence agencies.
"The Russian president just told me that Russia did not interfere. "And I don't see why she would," Trump said at a press conference.
"Given what happened before during Trump's meetings with Putin, I really fear that Putin will see the summit as a reward and as another opportunity to continue the war even more rather than ultimately seek peace," said Democratic U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
The two leaders have radically different approaches. Trump is betting on deals, while the Russian president is betting on long-term things, sure that time will work in his favor.
Translated from French: Gabriela Golemanska, BTA