August 16, 2025 – Translated from German via Google and OFP

Questions remain unanswered after the meeting between US President Trump and Russian President Putin. This is what a political scientist says.

There were no concrete results from the summit between  US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both Trump and Putin called the meeting, which lasted two hours and 45 minutes “productive” but they did not comment on the details of the conversation.

Trump subsequently informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European heads of state and government, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ( CDU ), about the meeting with Putin. On Saturday morning, it was announced that Zelensky would travel to Washington on Monday for talks with Trump.

WDR spoke with political scientist and security expert Stefan Meister from the German Council on Foreign Relations about the summit in Alaska.

WDR: Mr. Meister, what is your first gut feeling the morning after Alaska?

Stefan Meister: It went worse than I feared. Putin not only set the agenda, but he was also legitimized by Trump with his narrative about the Ukraine war. There are no threats of sanctions from the US , even though there is apparently no will on the Russian side to end the war in Ukraine or enter into any kind of ceasefire. I think this is a low point for US diplomacy, the likes of which we have never seen before.

WDR: But we’re already talking about this press conference. We don’t really know what Trump and Putin discussed behind closed doors for two hours and 45 minutes. Trump indicated that it was about mutual trade. What do you think was the core of the meeting?

Meister: The fact that Putin was allowed to speak first at the press conference and used two-thirds of that time to present his interpretation of the war is extremely problematic. I think if anything had come out of the conversation, Trump would have proudly announced it in some form.

The press conference also covered many other topics. Business deals , economic relations between the two countries, normalization of relations—I think, in the end, none of that matters. What’s crucial for Putin is that he gains time to continue this war. That he presents his interpretation and that Trump doesn’t contradict him. The Russian side isn’t offering any compromises, but is sticking to its maximum demands. And it can do so simply because Trump isn’t putting pressure on him.

WDR: Now Trump is saying: Putin and I agree on many points. Recently, Trump expressed agreement with the EU. That seems to be mutually exclusive, doesn’t it?

Meister: What you discuss with Trump today will no longer be valid tomorrow. For Trump, it was crucial that he meet with Putin. This meeting itself was the goal for Trump. For Putin, the goal was to gain a platform for his interpretation and to legitimize his policies. He achieved that. Trump also achieved what he wanted: he met with Putin. But that didn’t move Ukraine and Europe forward one millimeter.

WDR: In his interpretation, Putin has repeatedly used the classic perpetrator-victim reversal, saying that the war came upon him, that this is a tragedy—he was allowed to say that without contradiction. But at least the two of them stood there and didn’t say: Yes, we agree, Russia will get the Donbas. For example. Is that the good news?

Meister: Yes, perhaps the good news is that Trump didn’t cede territory he doesn’t have control over. That would have been the worst-case scenario for Ukraine. But that’s where the positive ends. I said beforehand: If nothing comes of it, that’s already positive. For Putin, it was about his legitimacy. He’s back on the international stage, he has recognition, he’s no longer isolated as a war criminal—and that’s essentially a huge success for Putin.

WDR: If Trump talks to European heads of state today or in the next few days, then the pendulum could just as easily swing back the other way, right?

Meister: Yes, he’ll keep telling people what they want to hear. But it’s obvious that he wanted to meet with Putin above all else and sees Putin as a great leader, so to speak. And that’s the problem: Trump’s legitimization of Putin.

https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/alaska-treffen-trump-putin-meister-100.html