ISW: Putin Refuses To Honor His Promise To Trump On Alaska

The Kremlin is looking for excuses not to hold a meeting with Zelensky.

During his visit to Alaska, the Russian president promised Trump to hold a meeting with Zelensky immediately after European leaders met with the US president at the White House. However, Putin is already backpedaling, refusing to hold a meeting with the Ukrainian president as soon as possible, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) report.

Yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Russian president is ready to continue direct dialog with Ukraine in the "Istanbul format."

Ukraine and Russia have already held three rounds of talks in Istanbul this year. The most important result of those meetings was the exchange of prisoners of war. Now Putin is ready to raise the level of heads of delegation at those meetings, but no more than that.

American officials from the Trump administration said that back in Alaska, Putin made promises to the White House chief to meet with Zelensky as soon as possible.

On August 18, Trump again said that Zelensky and Putin should meet as soon as possible. Lavrov may have been trying to portray the Kremlin's offer to continue the Istanbul Summit talks and working groups as a fulfillment of Putin's rumored promise to Trump to hold a bilateral meeting with Zelensky.

But the continuation of the Istanbul Summit talks is a far cry from a bilateral meeting at the level of heads of state, and Lavrov's statement is likely part of the Kremlin's ongoing efforts to delay peace talks and shift blame for the delays to Ukraine and the West.

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