A slap in the face for the EU and a wake-up call for Ukraine: experts assess the upcoming summit in Budapest

The announced summit between the leaders of Russia and the United States in Budapest will probably not bring peace to Ukraine and will be a repeat of the meeting in Alaska, which ended only with the promised sanctions against Russia being postponed indefinitely.

This is because the Kremlin is using diplomacy not to achieve peace, but only to buy time for its military on the front, DW writes, citing Western analysts.

Claudia Mayor, Senior Vice President for Transatlantic Security Initiatives at the German Marshall Fund, believes that Trump's phone call with Putin, initiated by Moscow, was a reaction to the threat of supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.

At the same time, Major is confident that the talks in Budapest will ultimately change nothing. According to her, "as a rule, Putin manages to convince Trump again and again" to refrain from really active steps to support Ukraine and put pressure on Russia.

She recalled that in August, with a meeting in Alaska, Putin was able to thwart Trump's plans to impose new sanctions against Russia, and peace in Ukraine did not come any closer after that meeting. "Alaska will happen again in Budapest," and Putin will again be able to fool Trump, believes Major. She does not rule out that "the United States will continue to occupy an incomprehensible position — either a mediator, or rather closer to being on Russia's side."

Mangott also believes that Budapest, the capital of the country with the most pro-Russian government in the EU, was chosen as the venue for the new US-Russian summit.

It's like the bad old days, the big powers are trying to settle the issue. (...) At the same time, there will be no Ukraine in Budapest, with which Russia refuses to negotiate at the level of presidents.