Putin states Trump’s position on Crimea in Helsinki

The presidents of the United States and the Russian
Federation met in Helsinki on Monday, July 17, for a much anticipated summit.
Presidents Trump and Putin spoke tête-à-tête for two hours with only
translators present. The details of that meeting are as of yet unknown, but
Ukraine-related issues did figure in their joint press conference afterward.

While President Trump did not mention Ukraine
directly, President Putin did. Regarding Nord Stream 2, Putin tied extending
gas flows through Ukraine past 2019 to the settlement of the Stockholm
arbitration court case between Naftogaz and Gasprom.

Regarding Crimea, time.com’s transcript of the press
conference reads:

Putin: “President Trump and — well, posture of
President Trump on Crimea is well known, and he stands firmly by it. He
continued to maintain that it was illegal to annex it.

Our viewpoint is different. We held a referendum in
strict compliance with the U.N. charter and the international legislation. For
us, this issue — we put paid to this issue.”

James Hydzik: While the reaction in the U.S. to President Trump’s performance has
been almost uniformly negative (albeit for different reasons), few politicians
and pundits have focused on the fact that he let President Putin speak for him.
Moreover, since this happened particularly in regard to Crimea, Trump’s silence
and Putin’s literal dictation of terms points to the increased likelihood of
bolder action on the part of the Kremlin. It’s almost a given that Crimea is
much more important to Putin  than Trump, but the lack of reaction – in a
presser where Trump veered from answering questions directly and where Putin
interjected with potential solutions (regarding gas) – will only give the
Kremlin grounds for continuing or extending asymmetrical warfare on its
borders.