Former national security adviser John Bolton on Friday suggested President Trump’s highly anticipated summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week is another step toward success for Moscow, not peace talks.
“The only better place for Putin than Alaska would be if the summit were being held in Moscow,” Bolton said during an appearance on CNN’s “The Source” with host Kaitlan Collins. “So, the initial setup, I think, is a great victory for Putin.”
“He’s a rogue leader of a pariah state, and he’s going to be welcomed into the United States,” he added.
Bolton floated Geneva or Austria as better sites for a meeting on neutral ground, adding Putin’s arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was issued in 2023 over the unlawful deportation of children, “could have been waived.”
“I don’t think anybody would have objected, frankly,” the former adviser said. He later reiterated his belief that Putin may attempt to “take advantage” of Trump during the one-on-one summit.
Trump announced the meeting between the two world leaders on Friday after previously threatening to impose increased sanctions on the Kremlin to deflate funds for the war in Ukraine and pressure the Russian leader to agree to a ceasefire.
The president on Friday signaled that Ukraine would need to cede land in order to end the war with the potential to grab territory in a proposed swap.
Bolton, in the interview, predicted Trump may favor Putin with the terms of any peace deal.
“I have a feeling this is sliding very quickly in Russia’s direction,” Bolton told Collins.
“We’re not quite back at February the 28th, in the Oval Office, when Trump told [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, ‘You don’t have any cards.’ But what’s happening is that Russia and the United States are discussing what terms they’re going to present to Zelensky, and it may well be that Zelensky has no choice here,” he continued. “Surrendering is always one way to get a peace deal.”
Trump said he will be fair to both sides in an effort to bring an end to the more than three-year-long war.
“You’re looking at territory that’s been fought over for three and a half years. A lot of Russians have died, a lot of Ukrainians,” the president told reporters on Friday. “So we’re looking at that, but we’re actually to get some back and some swapping.”
“It’s complicated. It’s actually — nothing easy. It’s very complicated,” he continued. “But we’re going to get some back. And we’re going to get some switched.”
Zelensky has since pushed back on the proposal and argued that Ukraine should have a seat at the negotiating table.
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