Specialist interview in international diplomacy, about Trump's plan at the meeting with Putin: “He wants to succeed where others have failed” / Proof that the US is keeping interest in the Black Sea region.

“This bilateral format only favors Russian President Vladimir Putin,” says, in a discussion with Hotnews the director of the Bucharest Bureau of the German Marshall Fund (GMF)-an international organization that promotes transatlantic cooperation-and teacher of international diplomacy, Clara Volintiru, in a discussion with Hotnews. She points out that “we live a completely different epoch of foreign policy of the United States” and talks about the recent move made by the Trump administration.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet on Friday, at 23.30, in Romania, in Alaska. The two will first meet without counselors, and then will have a common press conference, according to the format announced by Kremlin.

Diplomacy expert, Clara Volintiru states that Donald Trump's involvement in peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine is “a disruptive initiative.”

“He comes to shorten the diplomatic processes of support of Ukraine over the last three years,” says Clara Volintiru.

Trump's argument, the expert believes, is that what was done in the settlement of the Ukraine war did not work either in support for Ukraine or in Russia's discouragement.

“Trump's presidency comes to ensure a position of glory in international diplomacy, but also to propose an alternative: of bilateral negotiation against the multilateral approach that the states in the transatlantic space have had during the last three years,” says the BST director.

“It's too early to figure out if it's more efficient.”

She recalls that there have been no recent bilateral initiatives after three years of war. “In the first period there were these initiatives from Germany and France, to negotiate directly with Vladimir Putin. They failed at that time and since then there have been no bilateral initiatives.”

“What President Donald Trump is trying to convince us at the moment is that he can succeed where others have failed. And not only he is trying to succeed where others have failed, but he is trying to do so in a context where the solutions are no longer so easy,” says Volintiru.

“The meeting will favor Putin”

“It is too early to figure out if the approach of President Trump is more effective than that of European leaders,” considers the specialist in international diplomacy.

He says, however, that “this bilateral format only favors Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

“It is a much more favorable concession formula than anything has been offered by European interlocutors in recent years. There is simply no motivation for Russia to withdraw. Extending the conflict in Ukraine is in Russia's interest,” says Clara Volintiru.

She adds that she does not trust that there will be a “good intention” result from Russia, because she “proved to be pursued in an extremely manner

aggressive and with a medium and long term stake ”.

US has also mediated another conflict

The expert also reminds of the involvement of the US president in the mediation of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The two countries signed at the White House on August 8, the conclusion of a decline for decades

As part of the Peace Agreement, the United States will also help build a transit corridor between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan Enclava, which are separated from the Armenian territory.

“The US intervention as a mediator and protector of Armenia comes to counteract the Russian influence in the South Caucasus, an increasing influence, especially from the last elections in Georgia, but also to constitute a position of power in a space that begins to boil from the perspective of the armed war,” she explained.

“US reinvestment in the Black Sea region”

At the same time, she says, the involvement of the United States must be “read as a reinvestment of the United States in the Black Sea region”

“It shows an important point of view for Romania, namely that the United States continues to have a major strategic interest in the Black Sea region, although the Trump administration seemed to initially take an isolationist and even Eurosceptic position.”

The US president thus shows that “it manifests the desire to involve and play an active role in our region,” the expert considers.

“I think that even in the case of the conflict in Ukraine and in the case of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Romania's bilateral relations with these strategic neighborhoods are very important,” she says.

“From a diplomatic point of view, we live a completely different era of foreign policy of the United States, in which the interests of America are made in the first place, but they are packed in a position of strength and mediator,” maker “at international level, facilitating conflicts that no one else has resolved,” concludes.