The Alaska meeting between the U.S. and Russian Presidents yielded no results, which was not unexpected, as the leader of the invaded state did not participate. Achieving peace over Ukraine without Kyiv’s involvement is impossible.

Axar.az reports that political analyst Elkhan Shahinoglu commented on the August 15 meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

He recalled that Washington had proposed to Moscow to resolve the Ukraine war through a ‘territorial exchange’:

‘Kyiv opposes this proposal, as it would have to accept the occupation of part of its territory to end the war. Moscow also rejects Washington’s proposal, demanding Ukraine hand over four regions, including areas it has not yet occupied. Washington, on the other hand, only supports assigning already occupied territories to Russia.’

Nevertheless, the Alaska meeting was important for both Putin and Trump. For Putin, it was crucial because he has long rejected Trump’s various proposals. If he had rejected the White House’s proposal this time, Trump would have stopped contacting him. Putin seeks to normalize relations with the U.S. during Trump’s presidency. It is no coincidence that at the Alaska meeting, Putin tried to steer the discussion toward restoring past economic ties. Trump, being a businessman, showed interest, but following his advisers’ instructions, he insisted on the principle: ‘First stop the war, then develop bilateral cooperation.’ Putin, knowing Trump’s tendency toward flattery, used expressions pleasing to the American president. For example, Trump often claims that if Biden were president, the Russia-Ukraine war would not have started. Putin at Alaska confirmed this: ‘I warned the former U.S. president; he did not listen. If Trump had been president, the war would have been prevented.’ Putin also claimed that the previous U.S. election was manipulated in favor of Joe Biden, thus supporting another of Trump’s arguments, criticizing postal voting as facilitating fraud.

Putin came better prepared for the meeting. This was evident from the press conference: his speech lasted eight minutes, while Trump’s speech was less than half that duration.

The meeting was also important for Trump. Although no result on the Ukraine war was achieved, it created the appearance that the White House is actively seeking a resolution. His main pre-election promise is to end the Russia-Ukraine war, so he needed to gain at least a small result. By agreeing to the meeting, Putin also prevented a drop in Trump’s approval ratings.

The continuation of dialogue between Trump and Putin, and Putin’s positive assessment of Trump’s actions, aligns with Azerbaijan’s interests. In this case, Moscow will not openly block U.S. efforts to operate the Zangezur corridor. Otherwise, Putin opposing the ‘Trump route’ would be negatively perceived in the White House. This provides Azerbaijan and Armenia the opportunity to accelerate the construction and activation of the Zangezur corridor.