Putin closes ranks with his main allies before the summit with Trump

Moscow.- Russian President Vladimir Putin closes ranks with his main allies, whom he called to inform them about the plans for the August 15 summit in Alaska with the President of the United States, Donald Trump. In the last three days, according to the Kremlin, Putin has spoken by phone with the leaders of the main countries of the BRICS group: China, India, Brazil and South Africa.

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Putin first called Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, whose country Trump imposed a 50% tariff on for importing Russian oil. While Xi has been more cautious due to his antagonism with NATO, Modi always advocated for stopping the war as soon as possible, although Kiev recently accused him of supplying Moscow with components for assault drones. On Saturday, Putin spoke with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who expressed his support for peace efforts and showed his willingness to contribute to the process. In addition, he also called his main ally in Ukraine, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, and the presidents of the Central Asian countries Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Putin informed everyone about the main results of the consultations he held this week in the Kremlin with the White House emissary, Steve Witkoff, in which the convening of the summit was agreed.

For the moment, the Russian stance towards the meeting in Alaska is unknown, although a few days earlier Putin assured that his demands remain unchanged: international recognition of the Russian annexations; Ukrainian neutrality; cessation of foreign military aid to Kyiv and elections to replace the president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

In response, Zelensky assured that there will be no peace agreement without Ukrainian participation, while ruling out that Kyiv can recognize the Ukrainian occupation of part of its territory. Although both Trump and the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, spoke of territorial exchanges and territorial cessions, experts believe that neither Moscow nor Kiev seem willing today to make concessions in that area. Precisely, Zelensky has also maintained contact this Sunday with the Kazakh leader, Kasim-Yomart Tokayev, who expressed his support for a peace based on international law that respects the territorial integrity of countries, and Azerbaijani, Ilham Aliyev, currently facing Moscow.