Meeting of Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping is a “synchronizing of watches” at the highest level: Vladimir Krotkov

Vladimir Krotkov, political scientist and professor at the Faculty of Political Science of the State Academic University for the Humanities, commented to Alpha News on the prospects of a possible meeting of the leaders of Russia, the US and China on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China.

“The upcoming meeting of the leaders, which will take place within the framework of APEC, is truly significant and important. That is, to a certain extent, certain decisions are still expected from it. I would put it this way: it is a time and a period to synchronize watches and, so to speak, discuss some, perhaps, key framework issues of both world politics and international relations, including those problem areas, those conflicts, that escalation that we are seeing now around Iran, the Strait of Hormuz and the Ukrainian crisis, and also the generally unstable economic situation in the world,” the expert believes.

According to the Alpha News interviewee, such top-level meetings are very important because they are held infrequently, and of all the participants, the US places particular hopes on this one.

“I think this meeting is important for representatives of all three global centers, ideologically, in terms of values, and from the standpoint of politics and the economy. Summits in this format are not held often. Yes, bilateral meetings are held constantly, but it is precisely this kind of configuration that can lead to concrete framework and strategic decisions, or at least to agreements for a certain period. There is no point in talking about the long term, but in the current situation the format is extremely relevant. To be more specific, this meeting is perhaps needed most by Trump. Against the background of an unfavorable electoral situation, he is looking for any occasions, tools and landmark venues to consolidate his positions and compensate for political losses. Of the three leaders, this summit is the most pressing for him,” Krotkov concluded.