Pursuing an Elusive Peace

Peace in the most dangerous conflicts of the world is elusive, and if it does come, will be a cosmetic one.

- AJAY SINGH

When Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed to meet at Anchorage in Alaska; the aim seemed more to provide the optics for an elusive Nobel Prize for Trump than for securing a just, durable, and lasting peace in Ukraine.

The much-hyped meeting in Alaska—a piece of land that was once Russia's—had been announced and conducted with much fanfare, with fighter jets flying overhead, red carpets laid out, a joint ride in the presidential limousine, and the hopeful slogan of "Pursuing Peace" plastered across the town. The slogan formed the backdrop to the traditional photo of the two leaders smiling and shaking hands, but the two-and-a-half-hour meeting between them produced little else. No joint statement, no outcome, no deal. As Trump himself put it, "There is no deal unless there is a deal."

But the inconclusive result was only to be expected. It was Putin's first visit to the USA since 2015, and the first meeting between the two leaders since 2018 (during Trump's first term). This meeting was largely to end the three-and-a-half-year long Ukraine war, which Trump boasted he could end in 24 hours and which Russia now dominates completely. Yet, the very meeting was a victory for Putin. He had demonstrated conclusively that he had broken the shackles of isolation which the world tried to impose upon him and Russia.