The unlikely love-in between
the president-elect and a former KGB agent who built a career on hating America
has spooked many US allies. And it raises serious questions – from the fate of
Edward Snowden to whether GCHQ’s secrets are safe
Putin and Trump Russian dolls … the start of a diplomatic thaw? Photograph: TASS / Barcroft Images
It was, remarkably, their first phone
call. Last week, on Monday, Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin. According to the Kremlin, the
conversation was warm. Putin congratulated the US president-elect on his
sweeping victory. We don’t exactly know how they addressed each other, but you
imagine it might have been “Vladimir” and “Donald”.
Both
leaders agreed that US-Russian relations were “absolutely unsatisfactory”, as
Moscow put it. Their two countries would now begin a new dialogue based on
“equality, mutual respect and non-interference in the other’s internal
affairs”. They would stay in touch and meet soon, the Kremlin said. Hours
later, Russian jets resumed their pounding of Syria.
The
scene at some point in spring or summer 2017 isn’t difficult to picture. You
can see the cavalcade of oversized Chevrolet minivans sweeping into the
Kremlin’s courtyard and parking up beneath a 15th-century cathedral with its
glittering gold domes. The 45th president of the US will jump out and stride
vigorously inside.
Trump and his entourage
will pass a painting showing Russian archers slaughtering their enemies in
medieval battle. Next, he will enter an impressive palace room, its gilding as
flamboyant and blinged-up as Trump Tower in Manhattan. There, a man of
surprisingly small stature will receive the new US president. Cue warm smiles
and a handshake. Putin makes a point of keeping everybody waiting, usually
interminably, but you suspect that for Trump he will be bang on time. Trump’s
election victory is something Putin has fervently wished for, but scarcely
thought possible. On the day of the vote, state media told ordinary Russians
that the election was fixed, Hillary Clinton’s victory pre-ordained.
The nature of this first Trump-Putin
meeting will shape international relations. It will either reassure – or
further spook – a western security establishment already aghast at the way in
which Trump has lavished praise on Russia’s unpredictable
dictator-cum-president.
It’s
easy to fathom what Putin might want from Trump. The Russian leader’s list of
demands from America is long; his geopolitical grievances go back a long way.
His relations with Barack Obama and George W Bush were torrid. (Probably the
last happy moment was in 2001, when Bush said he had “got a sense of Putin’s
soul”.)
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