Russia’s Summit Preparation Sends an Unmistakable Message to Washington and the World

I don’t know what the outcome of Friday’s Summit between Russia and the US will be, but I do know that Russia is putting on a full-court press to show the rest of the world that it is serious about negotiating with the US, and is backing it words by the stature of the delegation it is sending. Based on Yuri Ushakov’s description of the schedule and the composition of the Russian delegation, the topic of how to end the war in Ukraine is not Russia’s only priority. I say this because the only Russian military rep who will attend the Summit is the Defense Minister, Andrey Belousov. If the two-sides were going to get into the nitty gritty of the war, I believe that General Gerasimov would have been included in the delegation.

Given the scant comments from the Trump administration about the schedule and topics for discussion, it appears that Trump is deliberately obscuring the intent of the conference from Washington’s neocons and Ukraine’s ardent supporters. We have heard nothing about US preparations, but Vladimir Putin made sure that the world was informed today in detail about what Russia is doing to prepare for the meeting.

President Putin convened a meeting of his national security, foreign policy and economic advisors at the Kremlin on Thursday, and opened the session with the following statement:

Dear colleagues, good afternoon!

I have asked you to come here today to inform you about the progress of the negotiations on the Ukrainian crisis and the bilateral negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation. Of course, many of you are already familiar with the situation, but I will provide you with more details. This is the first point.

The second is to tell you about the stage we are at with the current American administration, which, as everyone knows, is making what I believe to be a very energetic and sincere effort to end the fighting, end the crisis, and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict, in order to create long-term peace conditions between our countries, in Europe, and in the world as a whole, if we reach agreements on strategic offensive arms control by the next stage.

This is what I wanted to say at the beginning.

Besides Putin, there were 21 key Russian officials at the meeting:

VAYNO Anton Eduardovich – Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation

Dmitry Anatolyevich MEDVEDEV – Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation

Sergey Kuzhugetovich SHOIGU – Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation

Denis Valentinovich Manturov is the First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation

Alexey Alekseyevich GROMOV is the First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation

Sergey Vladilenovich KIRIENKO is the First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation

NOVAK Alexander Valentinovich – Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation

Maxim Stanislavovich Oreshkin is Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation

Peskov Dmitry Sergeyevich – Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation – Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation

MEDINSKY, Vladimir Rostislavovich – Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation

YURY VIKTOROVICH USHAKOV – Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation

Andrey Belousov – Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation

Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov – Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

Anton Germanovich SILUANOV – Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation

Nabiullina Elvira Sakhipzadovna – Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation

BORTNIKOV Alexander Vasilyevich – Director of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation

Viktor Vasilyevich ZOLOTOV – Director of the Federal Service of the National Guard of the Russian Federation – Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard of the Russian Federation

Sergey Evgenievich Naryshkin – Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation

Sergey Sobyanin is the Mayor of Moscow

Valery Vasilyevich GERASIMOV – Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation – First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation

Kirill Aleksandrovich DMITRIEV is the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries and the General Director of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.5, 13:50

Other than Belousov, only General Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff, represented the military. If the substance of the meeting is defined by its participants, I come to the conclusion that Russia’s objective is to focus on foreign policy and economic relations with the US.

Yuri Ushakov provided a more fulsome outline of what to expect:

Dear colleagues!

The preparations for the meeting between the Russian and U.S. presidents have entered the final phase. Given that the meeting was announced only five days ago, on the night of last Friday to Saturday, everything is being done on an intensive basis, and a lot of technical issues, including visa issues, are being resolved. Of course, the political aspects of the summit are being actively discussed.

I can tell you that the leaders’ meeting program has been agreed upon. As you all know, this meeting will take place in Alaska, in Anchorage, specifically in one of the facilities at the Joint Military Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The meeting is scheduled to begin tomorrow, August 15, at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time, with a conversation between Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Donald Trump. This conversation will be held in a private setting, with the participation of interpreters. Then, the delegations will hold negotiations, which will continue at a working breakfast.

The composition of the participants has already been determined. Given that very important and sensitive topics will be discussed, the number of participants in the negotiations is limited. I will name the members of the Russian delegation: these are the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey , Assistant to the President for Foreign Policy Yuri Ushakov, Minister of Defense Andrey Belousov, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov and Special Representative of the President for Investment and Economic Cooperation . The composition of the American delegation is also known, but it would probably be appropriate to wait for an announcement from our American partners. This means that in addition to the presidents, there will be five members of each delegation participating in the negotiations. Of course, there will also be a group of experts present.

After the talks are over, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will hold a joint press conference to sum up the results of the talks. As for the summit’s agenda, it’s probably clear to everyone that the central topic will be the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis, including the discussions that were held in the Kremlin on August 6, with the participation of US President’s Special Envoy, Stephen Whitcoff. However, the summit will also address broader issues related to peace and security, as well as pressing international and regional concerns. There will be an exchange of views on the further development of bilateral cooperation, including in the trade and economic spheres. I would like to note that this cooperation has enormous potential that has not yet been fully utilized.

What else would you like to mention? Next to the military base where the negotiations will take place, nine Soviet pilots are buried in the memorial cemetery, as well as two servicemen and two civilians who died in 1942-1945 years when aircraft from the United States were transported to the Soviet Union under Lend-lease. So the meeting will be held near such a historically important place, which reminds of the military brotherhood of the peoples of our countries. And this is especially symbolic in the year of the 80th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany and militaristic Japan.

Dear colleagues, this is about what I wanted to tell you about the visit, which, as I mentioned, will begin tomorrow morning local time.

Thank you.

The ball is now in the US court. If Trump ends the meeting with Putin and walks away, Putin and his delegation will have no doubts that the diplomatic opening to the US is dead. I hope that does not happen. I suspect that President Trump is looking forward to holding a press conference, accompanied by President Putin. There will be questions from US and Russian correspondents. That likely will happen around 1900 hours Washington time, which is 0200 hours in Moscow.

I did three separate interviews today, with Glenn Diesen, Garland Nixon and Rasheed Muhammad: