President Donald Trump has set the stage for this historic meeting, the first formal session between U.S. and Russian leaders since Putin’s illegal annexation of Crimea, in 2014, in an extraordinary way, tweeting this morning, “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!” The President’s decision to blame hostile relations between the two Cold War adversaries on his own country was quickly noted by the Russian side, and the tweet was even liked by the official account of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Blame America First,” a piqued former U.S. Ambassador to Russia tweeted in response. No matter what else it accomplishes, this meeting in Helsinki will undoubtedly count as the first such session in which Kremlinology has morphed into Twitterology for the thousands of journalists gathered here to interpret the proceedings based on the sparse information that has been officially handed out.
Trump’s tweet ignored history and facts on so many levels, and seemed to confirm the worst fears of those in many parties who worried that the American President came to Helsinki determined to make friends with Putin, rather than to hold him to account for actions that range from the Russian incursion into Ukraine to election meddling in the United States. They didn’t even need to speculate about Trump’s intentions: he openly broadcast them in the days leading up to the meeting, in a series of statements to the press in which he mused about the positive “relationship” he hoped to build with Putin, while excoriating allies and blasting the European Union as a “foe” of the United States.
As for the agenda, it remains a mystery, with none of the standard “deliverables” in place that would normally be negotiated well in advance of such a meeting. Speculative reports have emerged that Trump and his advisers have been debating whether to pursue an agreement with Putin on Syria that would presumably involve a reduced American presence in the country in exchange for a Russian commitment to pressure Iran to reduce its military presence there. But, then again, no one really knows, and that’s the point for this American President: all eyes must remain on him, or at least his Twitter account.
