The heads of the White House and the Kremlin will discuss the fate of Ukraine on the territory of the European Union, but without it itself, the publication notes. Several sources in European politics called the future summit a “political nightmare” for the European Union, which, since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s full-scale aggression in Ukraine, has isolated Putin and has already introduced 18 packages of sanctions against its economy.
The meeting in the Hungarian capital with the participation of right-wing conservative President Viktor Orban (who is considered an ally of Trump and an agent of the Kremlin in the EU) puts other European leaders, the leadership of the EU institutions and NATO in an awkward position, the article says. To avoid angering Trump, some countries will have to give Putin special permission to fly over, despite an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for kidnapping Ukrainian children. Or he will have to choose a much longer route through the Mediterranean Sea, Montenegro and Serbia, the publication emphasizes.
The location was chosen deliberately; it “could benefit the Russian Federation, because it deepens the cracks in the EU regarding the Kremlin,” one of the European diplomats told El País. For Kyiv, the choice of location is also painful: it was in the Budapest Memorandum in 1994 that Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons in exchange for Moscow's promise to recognize its territorial integrity – a promise that Putin broke in 2014, the authors note.
Trump has already rewarded Putin with a meeting in Alaska on August 15, which did not lead to peace, but brought the Kremlin leader out of isolation and back to the “adult” table on the global stage, writes El País. The summit in Budapest will be an even greater victory for Putin, already on European soil, the publication reports.
Harvard University democracy researcher Alberto Alemanno notes that the Budapest meeting demonstrates “the strategic use of Hungary as the EU's weakest link as a geopolitical actor.” According to him, the event itself will give Orban the authority to speak on behalf of the EU, although his position on Ukraine is opposite to that of Brussels, the expert notes.
The European Community, which demanded a seat at the negotiating table, is not only left without one, but will also have to “clean up the remains of the banquet and foot the bill for reconstruction,” El País emphasizes.
Context
October 16, Russian Federation initiated the conversation Putin and Trump, the Kremlin reported. They, in particular, discussed the “problems of possible supplies of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.” After her, Trump noted that intends to hold a meeting with the illegitimate Russian president in Hungary.
On the same day, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that Moscow was in a hurry to resume dialogue, just hearing about Tomahawk.
A German Foreign Ministry spokesman said that during a possible meeting between Putin and Trump, Hungary should comply with the statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and arrest the head of the Kremlin. At the same timeSpokesperson for Foreign Policy Anita Hipper noted that European Union sanctions do not prohibit Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other officials from arriving in EU countries.
The media wrote that the team of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was surprised by the announcement of a meeting in “the least friendly EU country to Ukraine.” In addition, the summit threatens to ease pressure on the Russian Federation, Bloomberg wrote.
