The Ukrainian – Russian incident in the Kerch Strait near Crimea is not affecting plans for a scheduled session between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin. This meeting, scheduled to happen at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires running from November 30 to December 1, has not been canceled, according to a report from RT.
The Kremlin received no notice of US President Donald Trump calling off talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the G20 event in Argentina, the Kremlin spokesperson confirmed after Trump saying he might back out.
Preparations for the talks “continue” and the meeting between Trump and Putin is “settled,” Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
“We have no other information from our US colleagues,” he stressed.
His remarks came after Trump told the Washington Post that he might call off the talks with Putin in response to the recent maritime incident in the Kerch Strait, in which the Russia seized three Ukrainian naval vessels it said violated Russian sovereignty.
The annual G20 summit will kick off in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Friday.
On November 29, TASS ran an update on the situation, indicating that the leaders will still meet (emphasis added):
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not losing hope of meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump at the two-day G20 summit in Argentina, which is opening on Friday, Kommersant writes. Earlier, Putin’s vis-a-vis did not rule out that the talks could be cancelled over the November 25 Kerch Strait standoff, when Ukraine’s vessels breached the border and were promptly detained by Russia.
According to a source close to the Trump administration, Moscow insists on discussing the resumption of bilateral contacts in business, culture and science, and also on launching talks on strategic stability, including extending the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) for five years and preserving the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, although Trump had earlier threatened to withdraw from it. Russia also expressed its willingness to revive a deal on the Russian-US cyber security group (the presidents agreed on creating it in July 2017).
Another potential topic for discussion is the volume and means of delivering humanitarian assistance to Syria and also investments in restoring its war-ravaged infrastructure. The US view on nearly all of the issues above is the polar opposite, a source in Washington told the paper. That’s why only three key issues have been approved for the talks of the two leaders – the future of the INF, the situation in Syria together with Iran’s role in this conflict as well as global oil prices.
Moscow and Washington also have different stances on the schedule of further contacts. The US side believes that Putin should pay a visit to Washington in the first half of 2019, and Trump would visit Moscow in the second half of the year. However, a Russian government source said the US scenario raises a number of questions: “Why should the Russian president fly to Washington first? And if he flies (there), will there be a reciprocal visit for sure?” “Perhaps, in this situation the leaders would be better off meeting on neutral ground,” he said.
The meeting was scheduled to take place but then it was thrown in doubt by the incident on Sunday November 25, when three Ukrainian naval vessels reportedly violated the notification agreement with the Russian authorities in Crimea by attempting to navigate the Kerch Strait without giving prior warning.
The Ukrainian ships were intercepted and captured by the Russian coast guard. Kiev denied the improper handling of communications and complained that Russian forces were being aggressive.
President Petro Poroshenko appears to be using this incident (assuming he didn’t fabricate it), to try to garner support for his presently unpopular presidential re-election campaign. On 27 November he and the Ukrainian Parliament ordered about half of the territory of Ukraine to be placed under martial law effective 28 November.
However, the case for Ukraine making a believable case for grievance seems to be in doubt. On November 27, the report surfaced that the aforementioned Ukrainian ships had counterintelligence officers on board. This was reportedly confirmed by the Kiev security service.
Vasily Gritsak, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), confirmed that counterintelligence officers were on the ships which entered Russian waters in the Kerch Strait on Sunday.
The agents were routinely providing “counterintelligence support to the Ukrainian Navy unit,” an SBU statement reads.
Counterintelligence officers are usually embedded with the military and deployed to the frontline, the agency said, adding, “it will always remain so.”
Gritsak accused Russia of using excessive force against Ukrainian vessels. Citing some “confirmed intelligence,” the statement alleged that a Russian aircraft had fired two missiles at the Ukrainian vessels during the standoff, leaving one SBU officer “seriously wounded.”
It comes after the FSB said there were two Ukrainian operatives on board who coordinated the “provocation” in the Kerch Strait. Russia’s security agency also filmed three men, identified as an SBU counterintelligence agent, a Navy officer and a sailor.
Speaking on camera, they said the crews deliberately ignored orders to stop after the ships entered Russia’s territorial waters. There were small arms on board the ships as well as machine guns with ammunition, according to service members.
The FSB has also asserted that the provocative mid-sea encounter was in fact ordered by the Ukrainian government. Top Russian officials had previously voiced similar statements, accusing Kiev of trying to win sympathies in the West, put pressure on Russia and help President Petro Poroshenko cement power.
Kiev responded conspicuously fast to the Kerch Strait incident, with Poroshenko announcing that a period of martial law would be imposed. The Ukrainian military was also put on combat alert following the naval standoff. Some observers, however, noted the timing of the event as it came ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting at the G20 summit and the start of presidential campaign in Ukraine.
Perhaps this event’s conspicuous timing is being taken in stride by the American President. Russia has given absolutely no sign of any hostile intent towards Ukraine, and no news service has even tried to assemble such an idea beyond the Kerch Strait incident itself.
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