Comply with stay updates on the Trump administration.
To listen to President Trump describe it, he and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia are about to have one thing akin to their very own Yalta second, nice powers figuring out borders inside Europe.
He didn’t explicitly seek advice from the 1945 assembly, the place Churchill, Stalin and a deathly sick Franklin D. Roosevelt carved the continent into the American-aligned West and the Soviet-dominated East, creating spheres of affect that grew to become the battlegrounds of the Chilly Struggle.
However speaking to reporters on Air Drive One whereas coming back from Florida on Sunday evening, Mr. Trump made clear that his scheduled cellphone dialog with Mr. Putin on Tuesday can be targeted on what lands and belongings Russia would retain in any cease-fire with Ukraine.
He’ll, in essence, be negotiating over how giant a reward Russia will obtain for its 11 years of open aggression in opposition to Ukraine, beginning with its seizure of Crimea in 2014 and lengthening by means of the full-scale battle Mr. Putin began three years in the past. White Home aides have made clear that Russia will definitely retain Crimea — in a type of odd twists of historical past, the placement of the weeklong Yalta Convention in February 1945 — and strongly advised it will get nearly all the territory it holds.
Although administration officers have careworn that they’ve stored their Ukrainian counterparts and European leaders absolutely briefed on their interactions with Russia, solely Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin will likely be on the decision, presumably with aides listening in. And it isn’t clear that both Ukraine or the large European powers will associate with no matter Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin may agree on.
Mr. Trump and his aides have been circumspect concerning the particulars of the deal being mentioned with the Russian chief. Steve Witkoff, the New York actual property developer and outdated pal of Mr. Trump’s who’s now particular envoy to the Center East, spent hours with Mr. Putin in Moscow just lately making ready for the decision.
