(12 Aug 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
London – 12 August 2025
++VIDEO CALL++
++BEGINS AND ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies:
"So it seems from at least some of Trump’s remarks, especially since his envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Moscow recently, that he, Trump, believes that the key to ending the war is agreeing territorial issues and specifically that this would involve Ukraine ceding sovereign territory, a large slice of Ukraine, in return for Russian forces occupying, withdrawing from very small areas of Ukraine that it occupies beyond the areas that Russia now claims for itself. That’s clearly a non-starter for a large number of reasons. The most important is that the war is not primarily about territory. The area that Russia claims for itself of Ukraine amounts to the equivalent of about 0.7% of Russia’s existing total internationally recognised land mass. Putin did not fight the war to gain an additional 0.7% of territory."
++BLACK FRAMES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies:
"Even if he were in some way to acquire that territory, it’s very clear that is not the end of his ambitions, which are all about subordinating the Ukrainian state to Russian dominance, maybe not annexing all of it, but certainly dominating it, and that in turn would create the opportunity geographically, but also in terms of Ukraine’s resources to threaten the rest of Europe further to the west. So this is not a territorial issue whatsoever, unlike the two recent conflicts that America has played a role in helping to resolve: the border disputes between Thailand and Cambodia and the peace declaration recently announced between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They are primarily about bits of land. Russia’s ambitions have very little to do with that and it follows from that that the war cannot possibly be ended on a territorial basis."
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies:
"For Putin, it’s an enormous, unearned reward to him to be invited to accept the hospitality of the US president, in particular and symbolically important, in the part of the United States that Russia used to possess before it was transferred to, sold to America in 1867. He will be using every opportunity to persuade Trump of his version, Putin’s version of the strategy that he seeks to advance his goals."
++BLACK FRAMES++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies:
"This is a profoundly alarming moment for Europe, and I include in Europe, Ukraine. In the worst case, Trump might be persuaded by Putin to try to end the war by accepting Russian sovereignty, de facto or even de jure, legally, Russia’s sovereignty over the areas of Ukraine that it claims, which go even beyond the areas that it currently occupies. And in addition to that, there is the fear that Trump will ease or lift the sanctions that are imposing real and cumulative and chronic pain on Russia’s economy."
++BLACK FRAMES++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies:
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
The upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska is a "profoundly alarming moment for Europe," according to a Russia analyst.
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