The first meeting of President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky with his American counterpart Donald Trump should take place in a few days on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. According to some reports, negotiations are scheduled for September 25, and their estimated duration will be 45 minutes.
The upcoming contact between the leaders of the two countries was also reported in the White House. They noted that this issue was discussed during a telephone conversation between Zelensky and US Vice President Mike Pence.
The text of the widely spread statement notes that during a recent meeting between Pence and the Ukrainian president, a representative of the US administration reaffirmed Washington's “unwavering commitment” to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the republic.
- White House, Washington, USA
- Reuters
- © Sarah Silbiger
Recall Zelensky was to meet with Trump in early September in Warsaw, where at that time events were held dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. However, negotiations broke down as the head of the White House canceled his trip to Poland due to Dorian hurricane approaching the United States.
It is worth noting that, on the eve of his visit to Poland, Zelensky told reporters about his vision of a planned meeting with the American president.
“We will not go to them with outstretched hands. We offer to invest in the country. We need cheaper money, ”Zelensky said in an interview with 1 + 1.
In addition, the politician listed the topics of dialogue that interest Kiev, naming among them energy and the development of the defense industry.
“We are ready to discuss business. There are still issues of international relations in which the US supports us, ”Zelensky said then.
Kiev has long been waiting for the opportunity for the new administration to speak directly with the American president: back in early June, the Zelensky press service announced an invitation to visit the United States, allegedly received from the White House. However, the meeting never took place.
Ukrainian intervention
Experts note that, speaking of a reluctance to negotiate with Washington with an "outstretched hand," Vladimir Zelensky most likely alludes to the policies of his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko.
The former president of Ukraine built his relations with American partners on constant requests, claiming free support from Washington. So, in September 2014, Poroshenko said that Ukraine needed “more weapons, both lethal and non-lethal,” and asked the United States to help with supplies. He also then appealed to the American Congress with a request to grant Ukraine the special status of NATO ally without membership, as well as expand sanctions against Russia.
For several years, Poroshenko insistently demanded that the United States give the APU a free shipment of ATGM Javelin for free. Ultimately, this was done, but on the condition that the weapon would not be used in the contact zone of the parties in the Donbass.
However, it was not necessary to talk about large volumes of support for Ukraine from the United States - in addition to the ATGM party, Kiev managed to get several decommissioned patrol boats as assistance, the restoration of which will require additional investments.
According to experts, the relationship of Petro Poroshenko with the administration of Donald Trump could not but be overshadowed by the fact that during the presidential campaign, the Ukrainian authorities warmly supported Hillary Clinton. Also, Poroshenko’s team did not want to believe in Trump’s victory until the last, fearing that he would reconsider his course on supporting Kyiv.
In addition, Ukrainian officials played a negative role in Trump’s campaign by exposing incriminating evidence to the head of his campaign headquarters, Paul Manafort. It was alleged that a political strategist who worked in the past in Ukraine was involved in tax fraud, money laundering, false testimony and working as an unregistered foreign agent. In addition, Manafort was suspected of having links with Russian intelligence agencies. This story was used by political opponents of Trump in order to accuse him of "conspiracy" with the Russian authorities, and the American court eventually sentenced Manafort to 7.5 years in prison.
It is interesting that Trump now has a similar trump card, since in May 2019 the then Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko said that the 2016 American elections were carried out from the territory of Ukraine, but American citizens were engaged in this.
- Paul Manafort
- Reuters
- © Eduardo Munoz
The Kolomoisky Factor
No less interesting for the current administration of the White House may be the investigation of corruption crimes of Hunter Biden, the son of Trump’s rival in the upcoming elections. As The Hill managed to find out earlier, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office suspected Biden Jr. of receiving large sums from the company Burisma Holdings, which worked in Ukraine. In the same period, Joe Biden himself allegedly was able to curtail the investigation of his son’s crimes, having secured the dismissal of Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin.
According to The Washington Post, Donald Trump will try to make the most of this story in order to discredit his rival in the election campaign. To do this, the head of the White House may put pressure on the Ukrainian president, demanding to start an investigation into the actions of Joe and Hunter Biden, the newspaper said. Note that earlier experts expressed similar assumptions in a conversation with RT.
At the same time, surrounded by Vladimir Zelensky there is an objectionable person to the American side. So, Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudolf Giuliani even canceled his trip to Kiev in the spring, saying that Zelensky was surrounded by Trump’s enemies. Political scientists believe that oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, whom Giuliani had previously called for, and against which, according to the American media, opened an investigation by the FBI, could be included in such “enemies”.
According to experts, the alleged ties between Kolomoisky and Zelensky are very worrying for the US administration.
“It is important to note that it was the American embassy that helped Poroshenko get rid of the oligarch, who had to leave Ukraine for several years. Apparently, Kolomoisky is somehow connected with the US Democratic Party, ”Mikhail Pogrebinsky, director of the Kiev Center for Political Studies and Conflictology, explained in an interview with RT.
A similar point of view is shared by a member of the Council on Interethnic Relations under the President of Russia, Bogdan Bezpalko. According to him, the “Kolomoisky factor” is not reflected in the best way on the relations between Kiev and Washington, since Zelensky is unlikely to put pressure on the oligarch, who may have helped to come to power.
However, as the RT source in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry suggested, the White House in exchange for support may require Kiev to take a number of steps, including pressure on Kolomoisky, as well as providing tacit preferences for American companies in privatizing large enterprises and selling land.
“The main topic of the negotiations will be the settlement of the conflict in the east of the country. Zelensky wants to attract the United States to the “Norman Four,” because he understands that Germany and France are already tired of Kiev’s position and demand a compromise, ”the source said.
Financial issue
Recall the other day, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vadim Pristayko said that he agreed to implement the so-called Steinmeier formula, which involves granting Donbass a special status as part of Ukraine. However, soon the Russian envoy at the talks in Minsk, Boris Gryzlov said that the Ukrainian side refused to sign the necessary documents.
- The fighting in the Donbass. Archive photo
- Reuters
- © Alexei Chernyshev
According to the source of RT in the party "Servant of the People", Vladimir Zelensky would be ready to make concessions in the negotiations on the Donbass for the sake of ending hostilities, but the implementation of the Minsk agreements is hampered due to the position of American partners.
“As far as I know, the United States is concerned about a possible improvement in relations between Ukraine and Russia, and most importantly, between Russia and the EU countries. Zelensky intends to discuss this issue with Trump. Unlike Poroshenko, Zelensky is against the deaths of Ukrainian citizens in exchange for geopolitical preferences from Western partners. The negotiations between Trump and Zelensky will not be easy, ”the interlocutor of RT believes.
However, according to Mikhail Pogrebinsky, the president of Ukraine has no room for maneuver in negotiations with the American leader - Kiev is in dire need of financial support from the outside.
“Zelensky says beautiful words about constructive negotiations, but they are impossible, since Ukraine desperately needs money to service its debt. If the IMF does not allocate the next tranche, Kiev and Zelensky’s team will be in disaster, the state will simply “collapse,” says Pogrebinsky.
A similar opinion is shared by Bogdan Bezpalko. According to him, although Zelensky claims that he does not intend to negotiate with an "outstretched hand," he is unlikely to avoid this.
“Ukraine needs to give almost 40% of the national income to debt servicing. And Zelensky needs to somehow solve the problem of finding these funds, since there is no large influx of investments into the Ukrainian economy, ”Bezpalko recalled.
According to his forecast, Zelensky should not count on strengthening ties with the head of the White House, but at the same time, Kiev can not be afraid of losing support from the United States.
“The United States will continue to support the current Ukrainian regime, seeing in it a convenient tool to“ deter ”Russia. For Washington to abandon this tactic, the American political sphere must survive perestroika. In the meantime, in the foreseeable future, the White House will continue to support the countries from which they want to form a hostility belt around Russia, ”concluded Bezpalko.