The Friday meeting in Alaska between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin may be the moment the world hears that “Putin wants to make a deal,” rretired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Newsmax Thursday.
Shaffer told “The Chris Salcedo Show” that Trump is certainly ready to begin working out the terms of a cease-ire with Ukraine, and he believes Putin is tired of war.
“At this point, there are some consequences Putin has to face. Russia needs access to markets. Trump can provide that,” he said.
Shaffer pointed out that Russia’s economy has been hurt badly by the price of conflict.
“Russia does not want an unending war that will continue to drain resources unneededly. Therefore, I think Putin is motivated to stop the war,” he said.
Shaffer said while Ukraine’s needs and the motivations of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are important, the even larger consideration for Trump is how the U.S. fits into the picture.
“The question becomes: How does President Trump put together a deal that satisfies most people, not all people? And ultimately, part of the deal here is a larger framework that has to be reestablished between Russia, the largest nuclear power on the planet, and us, the other nuclear power on the planet,” he said.
“That’s going to be one of the key things they try to sort through. So it’s not just about Ukraine, it’s about how do we coexist with the other large nuclear power on the planet.”
Shaffer said he believes Trump understands that European leaders want the war to drag on since they’ve “benefited greatly” from the war.
“They don’t want peace. And that’s why President Trump has to do the deal that best suits the United States and our interests,” he said.
Trump expressed optimism on Thursday about the possibility of peace between Putin and Zelenskyy.
“We have a meeting with President Putin tomorrow. I think it’s going to be a good meeting,” Trump told reporters. “But the more important meeting will be the second one we’re planning.”
“We’re going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelenskyy, myself, and maybe some European leaders. Maybe not. We’ll see,” Trump said.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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