In the absence of any known formal recording or record, Russian President Vladimir Putin is free to spin his one-on-one private meeting with President Trump any way he wants.
Putin told Russian diplomats in a closed-door speech Thursday "he made a proposal to Donald Trump at their summit this week to hold a referendum to help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine" but says he agreed not to reveal the details of that proposal while Trump considered it.
While Putin portrayed the Ukraine offer as a sign he’s seeking to bring the four-year-old crisis to an end, a referendum is likely to be a hard sell with Ukraine and its backers in Europe, who remain committed to an 2015 European-brokered truce deal for the Donbas region, parts of which are controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
White House officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. If Putin’s account of Trump’s reaction is accurate, it would suggest a more flexible approach than the U.S. has shown to date on the issue ...
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Putin’s proposal would call for a vote conducted under international auspices by the residents of the separatist territories on their status, the people said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the details of what Putin said about Ukraine at the summit, saying only, “Some new ideas were discussed. They will be worked on.”
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Putin’s proposal will alarm Ukrainian officials after Trump last week appeared to leave open the possibility of recognizing Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, which triggered the crisis that led to fighting in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukraine has offered the areas autonomy under its rule and backs the deployment of international peacekeepers in the region.
The U.S. and the European Union have repeatedly accused Russia of sending troops and weapons to support separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia denies the charge, though Ukraine has captured a number of Russian soldiers and weaponry on its territory.
At the same time, the Russian defense ministry is posting videos of nuclear weapons tests on social media in what can be seen as a deliberate effort to project military strength in the wake of the summit.
Russia’s military is testing an array of new nuclear and other weapons, from a high-powered laser weapon system to a nuclear-powered cruise missile with “unlimited” range.
The Defense Ministry made a string of announcements about progress on the weapons, unveiled in a speech by President Vladimir Putin in March.
The ministry said it has tested the Burevestnik cruise missile on the ground and is now readying flight tests. Military officials said they are practicing use of the Peresvet high-powered laser weapon system, and launching trials of the Poseidon underwater nuclear drone.
... Thursday’s announcements came as Putin stressed the need for talks with Washington on nuclear arms control treaties, after his summit this week with President Donald Trump.
Clips from the videos made their way onto an afternoon report on one of Russia’s main state TV channels, which characterised them not as offensive weapons but a means to secure peace.
Russia has long sought to pressure the US into expanding the scope of arms control talks.
The videos showed that several of the new weapons systems, which were publicly unveiled by Mr Putin for the first time during a sabre-rattling campaign speech in March, are not works of science fiction - as some observers have mocked - but relatively far along in development.
Of greatest interest to Western observers will likely be videos showing Mr Putin’s nuclear-powered cruise missile - now being called Burevestnik, which has meanings ranging from "storm-bringer" and "thunderbird" to "petrel" - and the Avangard ground-launched hypersonic missile.
The video of Burevestnik showed a coastal missile battery launch the cruise-missile out toward the ocean.
Images of the flight were fleeting, and quickly cut to scenes from a production floor with several of the missiles obscured under tarps — their noses and wings peaking out.
According to the Interfax news agency, the Burevestnik test was intended to answer design questions before moving ahead in the project.
Russia tests new nuclear weapons after summit with Trump (AP)
Putin Tells Diplomats He Made Trump a New Offer on Ukraine at Their Summit (Bloomberg Politics)
Russian Ministry of Defence shows new missile test videos on social media (The Telegraph)