Like Kim Jong-UN, is Putin expecting Trump to announce that he is going to lift US sanctions against Russia at their impending summit meeting?

The big buildup to the Trump - Kim Jong UN meeting in Singapore has subsided, and the actual meeting itself had ended not so much with a bang, but rather with a whimper.

More than anything else, this meeting has propelled Kim Jong-Un onto the international stage, to his obvious delight.

 

What has somewhat been hidden from view is an interview given by Putin to the new China Media Group, prior to Trump's Singapore meeting.

What is interesting is just how much of what Putin said about the situation regarding North Korea during his pre-Singapore interview, and what Trump subsequently said during his speech and press conference after his meeting with Kim Jong-Un, uncannily mirror critical statements made by each other.

Indeed, one could almost conclude that Putin must have had a hand in drafting Trump's Singapore speech.

 

And just as Trump and Kim Jong-Un had their 'summit' meeting in Singapore,

"The German, French, Russian, and Ukrainian foreign ministers were meeting in Berlin late on June 11 for talks on bringing an end to the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The meeting -- the first of the "Normandy" group in more than a year -- focused on implementing an unfulfilled peace agreement reached in 2015 and the possibility of deploying a UN peacekeeping mission in the conflict zone." (RF/ERL : June 11, 2018) (my emphasis)

The sticking point for Putin about the deployment of UN troops is that,

"Germany and France (and Ukraine) want UN troops to be deployed in all areas controlled by Russia-backed rebels, including on the Ukraine-Russia border"(ibid RF/ERL,

whereas Putin simply wants them to patrol along the line of contact in the Donbas.

As reported by Michael Nienaber (left),

"German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said after the four-way talks that Russia and Ukraine agreed in principle on a UN peacekeeping mission, but their ideas about how to implement it were still “very much apart.”(Reuters : June 11, 2018) (my emphasis)

"What", we may ask, "does Putin have to gain in upturning this latest 'Normandy Group Meeting', especially in light of the dire state of the Russian economy?"

Which brings us back to that recent Trump-Kim Jong-UN summit in Singapore.

A few minutes ago the BBC reported that,

"North Korea has celebrated the Trump-Kim summit as a great win for the country, with state media reporting that the US intends to lift sanctions." (BBC : 13 June, 2018)

And in a recent blog entry (9/6/2018) I wrote that,

"Like a bolt out of the blue, Trump announced yesterday that a summit meeting between himself and Putin is being set up.
.....
As Brett Forrest and Peter Nicholas report,

"Any meeting between the two presidents would be expected to include discussions on Syria, Ukraine and nuclear-arms control. The summit’s purpose would be to resolve longstanding differences, people familiar with the matter said.
....
[Trump] added: “There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy.” He went on to suggest that a more collaborative relationship with Russia could curb the arms race." (Wall Street Journal : June 1, 2018) (my emphasis)" (blog : 9/6/2018)

So like Kim Jong-UN,  is Putin expecting Trump to similarly announce that he is going to lift all those sanctions against Russia at their impending summit meeting? 

(to be continued)