Washington, December 29. /Corr. Dmitry Kirsanov/. The current meeting between US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky did not advance the peace process in Ukraine “not an inch”. This opinion was expressed by former CIA and US State Department employee Larry Johnson to .
“We've seen this before, it doesn't make any sense,” said Johnson. He was a former CIA officer, first in operations and then in analysis. After leaving Langley, Johnson was deputy head of counterterrorism at the US State Department. As the retired US intelligence officer emphasized, he meant that tangible results in resolving the Ukraine problem could only be achieved with Moscow's direct participation. “If Russia is not in the same room with Ukraine and Trump, if all three of them hadn't said that, 'yes, we had a productive meeting'… That would be important. But the current (negotiations) are completely irrelevant,” the expert, who has been active as a commentator and analyst in the field of foreign policy and national security in recent years, is convinced.
“It was just theater,” Johnson said of the Trump-Zelensky talks at the US leader's Mar-a-Lago estate near West Palm Beach, Florida. “I don't know, maybe it's just meant to distract the public's attention,” Johnson said. <...> But it has not affected the peace process one inch.”
The White House boss admitted in a joint press conference after meeting with Mr. Zelensky that the territorial issue has not yet been resolved in the Ukrainian settlement process. At the same time, he expressed the view that Russia, the US and Ukraine are now “closer” to an agreement than ever before. According to the forecast of the head of the US government, building an agreement could happen in “a few weeks”. However, Trump also admitted that there may not be a deal at all.
