US, Russia Agree to Try to Avoid an Arms Race

Friday’s talks between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin went quite well, according to all reports from those familiar with the meeting. The Kremlin reported that the talks centered on future talks on stability and disarmament, along with improving trade relations.

Meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, there was an enormous amount to be discussed between Trump and Putin. The US and Russia have had increasingly worsening tensions for years, and very limited diplomatic engagements.

Not everything could be tackled in a single meeting, but both sides seemed to agree on the most important of matters, that they will do everything possible to avoid another arms race. That’s an important agreement, as both sides have been talking up such a risk, centered on the US withdrawing from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

By itself that’s not bad for an 80 minute meeting. Other issues were apparently discussed, including the matter of Ukraine. US officials have so far not indicated a lot of the details from their perspective.

Since Trump was loathe to talk about what would be discussed, beyond a White House report that Iran, Syria, and Venezuela were also brought up, most US media outlets are centering on Trump telling Putin “don’t meddle in the election, president,” in front of reporters, which they saw as unduly lighthearted.