Russian president Vladimir Putin must have watched his US counterpart Donald Trump’s destructive progress through Brussels and London last week with his trademark mirthless smirk. Mr Trump’s undermining of America’s ties with its European partners plays straight into Mr Putin’s hands. On Monday, the two men come face-to-face in Helsinki for a meeting Mr Trump has suggested may be the “easiest” of his European tour, but which is the most important US-Russian summit in years. If the US president treats Mr Putin like an old friend after spending a week scorning longtime allies, he could do grave damage to international security.
Mr Trump takes the same transactional approach to geopolitics as to real estate, seeing it as a series of deals. His success, at least in his own terms, at dealmaking with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un last month seems to have emboldened him to try the same with Mr Putin. He should avoid any attempt at a grand bargain. As with Mr Kim, it would risk ceding much more than the Russian president would deliver in return.
The agreement to meet Mr Putin — who has done nothing to address the issues for which the US and EU have sanctioned Russia since 2014 — is a big concession in itself. Mr Trump is going ahead with the summit despite the US indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers on Friday for allegedly hacking Hillary Clinton’s election campaign.