German chancellor calls Alaska summit 'good news' as Trump did not make territorial deals with Russia
Friedrich Merz says Alaska summit of US and Russian presidents had mixed results, but he welcomes Trump's adherence to previously agreed positions with Europeans
BERLIN
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed the outcome of Friday's summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, expressing relief that no territorial concessions regarding Ukraine were made during their talks in Alaska.
In an interview with German public broadcaster ARD on Saturday, Merz characterized the high-profile meeting as having mixed results, with both "light and shadow," but emphasized that Trump had adhered to positions previously agreed upon with European leaders.
“Not a single one of the five points we discussed has been questioned by President Trump. That's a good result. I'll pick out the most important one. There were no territorial negotiations between Putin and Trump over the heads of the Ukrainians and the Europeans. That's good news,” he said.
The German chancellor expressed particular satisfaction with the US administration’s commitment to provide security guarantees for Ukraine.
“There's a willingness on the American side to provide security guarantees, together with us Europeans, of course. But that's actually the positive surprise this morning,” Merz said. “That wasn't expressed in the press briefing, but it was expressed very clearly and distinctly this morning in the conference call we had with President Trump. I think it's extremely good that America is staying on board,” he stressed.
Merz also underlined that European leaders will maintain close coordination, with the "Coalition of the Willing" scheduled to hold a videoconference on Sunday afternoon to discuss the Alaska summit's outcome and potential next steps for the coming days and weeks.
"What is very important to me is that we Europeans always speak with one voice. We are succeeding in this. We must prepare things together with the Americans, and we have also been successful in this so far," the chancellor said. "And above all, there can be no territorial concessions until a peace treaty exists. This peace treaty must also mark the point when security guarantees come into force at the latest."
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