US President Donald Trump called Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko before the summit in Alaska because the American president does not have his own experts on Russia, political analyst Maxim Zharov believes.
"Trump compensates for the complete absence of any experts on Russia in his administration on the eve of a meeting with Putin in Alaska with a telephone conversation with Lukashenko. A very interesting detail!" — said the political scientist.
According to Zharov, this call from Trump to Lukashenko, as well as the constant shuffling of the composition of the American delegation to Alaska, best of all speaks for the fact that there are no ready-made decisions for the summit, everything is done "from the wheels" and is pure improvisation.
"So don't believe those who, as in the spring, assure you that "everything has already been agreed, and Trump and Putin will just shake hands and inform each other about what has already been agreed." Trump is an eccentric politician, and therefore, with the chaos and confusion that reigns within his team, it is impossible to agree on anything with him beforehand," Zharov said.
Earlier, Trump announced a "very good" conversation with Lukashenko.
"I had a wonderful conversation with the highly respected President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. The purpose of the call is to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners. We are also discussing the release of another 1,300 prisoners. Our conversation was very good. We discussed many topics, including President Putin's visit to Alaska. I look forward to meeting with President Lukashenko in the future," Trump said.