'Embarrassment for the United States': Democrat Senator on Trump-Putin meeting

Washington, Aug 18 (IANS) US Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat leader from Connecticut, has called President Donald Trump's recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin a "disaster".

He also claimed that the meeting resulted in the Russian leader getting "everything he wanted".

"That meeting was a disaster. It was an embarrassment for the United States. It was a failure," Murphy said on Sunday in an interview with NBC News.

"Putin got everything he wanted. I mean, first of all, he wanted that photo op, right? He wanted to be absolved of his war crimes in front of the world. He was invited to the United States."

Trump and Putin met in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15 for a summit on ending the war in Ukraine, but the high-stakes meeting wrapped up without the pair reaching the ceasefire Trump was seeking.

Trump, who praised the meeting as a "10 out of 10", said following the meeting that now it is "really up to President Zelensky to get it done".

Zelensky wasn't invited to the summit.

"We have a pretty good chance of getting it done," Trump added.

Trump and Zelensky are expected to meet on Monday at the Oval Office.

Trump has also discussed plans to set up a joint meeting between him, Putin and Zelensky.

Meanwhile, Putin referred to the meeting as "very useful", but neither Trump nor Putin mentioned an end to the fighting in Ukraine.

Murphy went on to tell the NBC News that "war criminals are not normally invited to the United States of America".

"(Putin) is intentionally murdering civilians, he's kidnapping children, and now he got to stand next to the President of the United States, legitimised in the view of the world," the Senator said.

Claiming that Putin "didn't have to give up anything" during his meeting with Trump, he added, "Nothing. Right? President Trump said he wanted a ceasefire. It appears the ceasefire wasn't even seriously discussed. And then, third, there's no consequences."

Murphy further added, "Trump said, 'If I don't get a cease fire, Putin is going to pay a price.' And then he walked out of that meeting saying, 'I didn't get a cease fire. I didn't get a peace deal, and I'm not even considering sanctions.'"

The politician then pointed to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's comments on Sunday on ABC News in which he admitted "we're still a long ways off" from a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia after the meeting flopped between Trump and Putin.

"You heard Secretary Rubio downplay sanctions. And so Putin walks away with his photo op with zero commitments made and zero consequences," Murphy told the NBC News.

"What a great day for Russia."

--IANS

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