On August 18 local time, US President Trump held a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, who visited the White House, and several European leaders. However, he once left the group and instead had a 40-minute phone call with Russian President Putin.
This is not the first time that Trump has shown his unique emphasis on Putin.
Multiple media outlets, including Fox News and Russia's Sputnik, have reported that regardless of whether it was in public or private settings, Putin always expressed various forms of praise and encouragement to Trump. The positive statements from the Russian side often received a "warm" response from Trump. However, what actual policies Russia would adopt and whether the US and Russia could ultimately reach an agreement as expected by Trump are often another issue.
How much did Trump value what Putin said? It can be seen from the "Trump-Putin meeting" on August 15: On the 16th, Trump gave an interview to Fox News, where during their private meeting, Putin told him directly that Trump lost the 2020 election because the Democrats used "mail-in voting" for fraud. If Trump had been elected normally, the Ukraine conflict would never have happened from the beginning.
When talking about this with the host of Fox News, Trump repeated several times what Putin had said and the details of that moment, repeatedly saying how Putin had spoken and expressing his great happiness about it.
Trump interviewed by Fox News, Fox News
Long before Trump officially took office as the current US president, Putin had repeatedly publicly praised Trump's "courage" and "wisdom."
On November 7, 2024, when Putin participated in a public event, he highly praised Trump's courage when he was attacked, stating that Russia was ready to engage in dialogue with Trump. Putin said, "In my view, his actions were very correct and brave, like a real man." This was referring to Trump's speech at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July of this year, when he was shot at but survived.
While visiting Kazakhstan in the same month, according to CNN, Putin also told reporters, "As far as I know, the newly elected president (Trump) is a smart and experienced person."
Not only Putin, but Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov also understood this well. On December 6, 2024, when speaking to American journalist Carlson, Lavrov also stated that he believed the newly elected US president Trump was powerful and friendly, but not "pro-Russian."
When relations between Russia and the US improved and discussions were held on solutions to the Ukraine conflict, the Russian side's "flattery" became even more targeted. For example, according to TASS on June 27, 2025, Putin stated that the normalization of US-Russia relations "was generally due to President Trump," and that it was continuing to move forward.
Putin, during the Valdai International Discussion Club meeting, congratulated Trump on his election as the new US president and praised his "bravery", Sputnik News
Trump often highly evaluated such statements by Putin. For example, after Putin praised Trump for promoting the improvement of US-Russia relations, Trump publicly stated that night at the White House: "He made some very friendly remarks today. Very friendly. Vladimir Putin made some very friendly remarks today."
Trump also said, "He respects our country again. I can tell you clearly, a year ago (during the term of former US President Biden), he didn't pay any attention to our country at all," "But now Putin respects our country."
In addition to gaining Trump's favor, the Russian side also clearly knows how to deal with Trump's show of force.
According to CCTV News, on July 29 local time, Trump proposed a "ultimatum" to Russia during his visit to the UK: If Russia did not make progress in ending the Ukraine conflict, the US would start imposing tariffs on Russia within 10 days and take other measures. Trump also complained earlier to British Prime Minister Starmer before their meeting, saying he was "disappointed" with Putin: "If you want to hear the truth, Putin often tells us some empty words... He always behaves very politely, but the results are often meaningless."
The Russian side did not respond much to Trump's sudden tough statement. On July 29, Russian President's press secretary Peskov merely stated, "We have noted the statement made by President Trump yesterday. I do not want to comment on the statements of American leaders."
17 days later, Trump met with Putin in Alaska, and the atmosphere was amicable.
After arriving in Alaska, Putin and Trump rare shared the same car to leave the welcome ceremony site, showing a close personal relationship, Fox News
On the other hand, even if they did not actually agree with the agreements and arrangements proposed by Trump, the Russian side often gave positive evaluations of Trump himself, and did not budge on issues such as signing agreements.
For example, in May of this year, Trump's side had repeatedly hinted that they were pushing for a ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia. According to TASS on May 10, Peskov stated at the time, "Immediately after the Trump side proposed a ceasefire agreement, Putin supported it," "but due to a large number of 'details' that could not be properly arranged, the agreement finally failed to be implemented." This negotiation also ended without success.
At this "Trum-Putin meeting," after nearly three hours of talks, the US and Russia did not actually reach any agreement, but the atmosphere of the talks appeared very harmonious. However, under this amicable atmosphere, the outcome of this world-renowned meeting might only be the verbal agreement set at the press conference by the two leaders: meet again in Moscow next time.
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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7540209316024943138/
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