This is what Trump and Putin's lunch in Finland looked like in 2018, captured by New York Times photographer Doug Mills. After this meeting, even journalists from the Republican Fox News were outraged on live television that their American president had allowed himself to disparage the work of the American special services, by publicly believing Putin rather than them and by saying at a joint press conference that “Vladimir did not interfere in the American elections, he just told me so, and I believe him.” Although all American intelligence agencies said the exact opposite.

We will never see what the dinner in Alaska looked like, because it was canceled at the last minute. Trump said that the meeting went 10 out of 10, that he and Vladimir are in contact, that now Zelensky must agree to a deal, that Europe must also get involved, that Vladimir himself told him: the 2020 US elections did not go as they should have, and that America and Russia have so many points in common that even Vladimir ran out of fingers on his spare legs.

But the dinner was canceled.

It is an interesting creature, this... Vladimir.

Whatever it undertakes, everything turns out the opposite. It sought to reduce NATO, but even staunch neutrals, Finland and Sweden, joined the alliance. It wanted Kyiv in three days, but something went wrong. Now it was convinced: if it didn't show weakness in private, Trump would build the warmest narrative bath himself, bathe in it himself, and sell it to the Europeans as the only prospect. Perhaps it was not wrong about the bath, as Sean Hannity, the heavyweight of Republican television, immediately set about washing an elephant of that size. He recorded an interview with Trump in the same hall in Alaska where the meeting with Putin took place. In it, Trump rejoices that Putin finally respects America (and during Biden's time, he supposedly did not)... But Fox News, which commented on this live last night, is genuinely surprised: how did it happen that on American soil, it was Putin who spoke first at the press conference? According to protocol, the first word, even if it is short, is always taken by the host of the meeting, simply to introduce the guest. And here Putin behaved as if, somewhere between Trump's assurances that he was the best of American presidents and a detailed explanation of what happened in Rus under the Pechenegs, he managed to take Alaska for himself under the table. Unlike the meeting in Helsinki, journalists were not allowed to ask any questions here because each of them could have shattered the fragile attempt to pretend that there was mutual understanding, which was beneficial to both Vladimir and Donald, each in his own way.

Even before the meeting began, The New York Times wrote that its very format characterized a return to imperial thinking. Ukraine is not present at this meeting, just as the indigenous people of Alaska were not present at the negotiations in 1867, when their land was bought from Russia for 2 cents per acre. And BBC presenter Julia Macfarlane, just like me on the air tonight, recalls Trump's failed attempt to reconcile South Korea with North Korea. Remember the American president's appearance at the 38th parallel - less than a year after he met with Putin in Helsinki, which was widely condemned by the American press - this demonstrative step onto North Korean soil, long bilateral negotiations with the hereditary dictator of one of the most closed, most oppressed, and poorest countries in the world. All the world's television channels were also glued to this. Remember what happened next? Nothing. Absolute, complete, unconditional nothing.

Whoever prepared the meeting in Alaska, unpleasant surprises awaited Putin and his entourage. Starting with the fact that Russian propagandists were housed in a stadium, forced to sleep on folding beds in an open space without doors. Then, after a few minutes of American embarrassment, when Donald Trump applauded, smiled, beamed, and shook hands with an international criminal (yes, the US is outside the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, but that doesn't make Putin's crimes any less serious), a group of fighter jets flew unobtrusively over Vladimir's head, and he visibly flinched. Karma is a bitch. Back in 2007, when receiving German Chancellor Merkel in Sochi, Putin let his Labrador Connie loose on her, because he knew very well that Merkel is afraid of dogs. I was only able to overcome my fear of dogs at the age of 38, so I understand perfectly well how irrationally humiliating and frightening it is. The role of Trump's Labrador was played by a stealth bomber, which recently carried out strikes on Iranian targets.

During the election campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris, who had to step in for Biden in the middle of the race, told Trump: You would sell everything (meaning Ukraine) for the sake of service and friendship with a dictator who would eat you for lunch. This is exactly what Putin predictably did, despite all attempts by Trump's entourage to rectify the situation. Russia emerged from this meeting as the winner, having achieved its main goal: the legalization of Vladimir in the international community. The American president is already meeting with him again, so why shouldn't others follow the example of the world's first democracy? Europe is predictably silent (and of course, not because it decided to sleep on Friday night), Zelensky is going to fly to Washington, where, most likely now without cameras, he will again be told that “he has no cards,” because that's what Vladimir says, who also says that Trump would have won all the elections in the world, especially the main ones - the ones he lost in 2020 - if America were a little more like Russia. And Vladimir hasn't lost any elections; he knows what he's talking about.

But the planned working lunch in Alaska never happened. It is unknown who ended up with the prepared filet mignon and sourdough bread with rosemary-lemon butter. This is a clear demonstration of how dissatisfied Trump was with the meeting, no matter what he later said on camera, no matter what he tried to convince his voters and, above all, himself. The European Council issued a joint statement from the leaders of France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Finland, Poland, and the European Union. Welcoming the US president's efforts to end the war, they stressed that Ukraine must emerge from the war with firm security guarantees, capable of defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity. No one should restrict Ukraine's armed forces or their cooperation with third countries. Russia cannot veto Ukraine's path to the EU or NATO.

I am convinced that this is the very bone in Trump's throat that led to the cancellation of the joint dinner.

A simple “imperial” scenario: giving Vladimir his sphere of influence in exchange for everything he offers means going down in history as the weakest American president. Sticking with allies means letting go of the dream of a Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump already sees in his hands, because Vladimir will never agree to a peace that suits Ukraine and Europe.

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