(16 Aug 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Arlington, Virginia – 15 August 2025
++VIDEO CALL++
++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY BLACK FRAMES++
++STARTS ON SOUNDBITE++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Cancian, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies:
"Well, the first thing is that the press conference was startling, even bizarre in the sense that the meeting was expected to last maybe six hours and broke up after about three. Then the press conference was called very abruptly. The journalists race into the room, the parties come on stage and speak their piece. Putin starts off and Trump responds, and then they trip off after a couple of minutes, they take no questions and Putin gets on his airplane, flies away. And I don’t think anyone quite expected a result like that. On the other hand, the words spoken were very friendly. Both Putin and Trump were encouraging about the future, but vague. And this is clearly the first step on, you know, what could be a long journey."
++BLACK FRAMES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Cancian, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies:
"Putin started off being very complimentary. He pointed out that there were several hundred place names in Alaska that trace their roots to Russia, that there are Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska, and that, in fact, the two islands that are closest together are only about two miles, four kilometers apart. So he said that we are really brothers. He also complimented Trump. He said that the war might not have happened under Trump and that it was Biden’s fault. And this is something, of course, Trump has claimed. So he was flattering Trump and Trump in return was very grateful but cautious, which was reassuring, in the sense he starts off by saying there’s no deal until there’s a deal, and that there had been very good discussions, that those would continue. There were a few issues that needed to be finished and one big issue, he didn’t say what it was. I suspect it was about territory and about territorial swaps. So it’s not clear what the next step is."
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Cancian, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies:
"Another encouraging thing was Trump saying that the Europeans and Ukraine, President Zelenskyy, had to be part of this agreement, and that had not come through quite clearly again about a week ago. The concern is that the pressure will go on to Zelenskyy to give up territory, to make an end to the conflict and get it over with as Trump would say. The Ukrainians are very reluctant to give up territory. Now they’re in a tough spot because the Russians occupy about 16% of Ukraine. They were increasing that. They think they’re winning. And Ukraine really has no theory of victory about how they’re going to get the Russians out. So claiming that they will only accept a complete Russian withdrawal is just not realistic, unfortunately. I think they will resist giving up any additional territory."
++BLACK FRAMES++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Cancian, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies:
"Another thing we should keep in mind is that these negotiations can sometimes go on for a long time. The negotiations to end the wars in Korea and Vietnam went on literally for years while the fighting also went on. So the fact that we’ve taken a first step is encouraging, but there are so many details to work out that it might just take a long time, before there’s any deal announced."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/0bab7fe57a0e4b0a9d85600d4a18cae2
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in August 21, 2025, 6:05 am.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
