Former NATO chief: Zelensky-Putin meeting probably won’t happen
Express newspaper
20/08/2025 6:53
A meeting between Putin and Zelensky probably won’t happen, despite Donald Trump’s suggestion, a former NATO chief says. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who led the alliance from 2009 to 2014, says Putin is “playing for time” and has no real intention of stopping the war.
“President Putin is not interested in peace. That’s why he convinced President Trump not to allow a ceasefire as the first point in the peace process, but to go directly to peace negotiations,” he says.
Rasmussen adds that he is “disappointed” by what he describes as the slow movement of the Ready Coalition for security guarantees for Ukraine.
“Europe must take its fate into its own hands,” he says, “and I think the first important step in this direction would be to deploy a security force in Ukraine.”