U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska. This marks the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders since President Trump returned to office, as he attempts to negotiate a resolution to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.
To provide additional insight into the U.S. intelligence community's involvement in such a significant summit, Mike Baker, a former CIA covert operations officer and host of the podcast "The President's Daily Brief," sat down with Scripps News.
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"Both the CIA and the FSB and the intel services in Russia, they've been working the same issues, which is 'can we identify the plans and intentions of the other side? Can we get ahead of the negotiating strategy? Can we figure out what the bottom line is for one side or the other might be willing to do?'" Baker explained. "From an intel perspective, most services end up prioritizing the same type of tasks because there's not much new under the sun when it comes to intel collection."
What have you made of President Trump's rhetoric headining into such a high-stakes summit?
"There's been these mixed messages coming out of the White House," Baker explained. "One moment it's the severe economic sanctions, severe consequences if [Putin] doesn't agree to a ceasefire. But then those sanctions, you know, could have been laid on quite some time ago, frankly. And, you know, I think the only thing Putin understands is that, you know, if he feels pain, and also if he feels like he may be losing his population or somehow losing a grip on power. That's the only thing that gets Putin to the negotiating table in a meaningful way."
"I don't think Putin sees a downside in coming to Alaska," he added. "In fact, there's quite a bit of upside for him from the symbolism. ... The Russian military is engaged in a new surprise assault offensive in the east. They've pushed forward some six to ten miles, gaining new territory. Putin believes he's still winning, he's still in the driver's seat. So that's going to essentially drive his strategic thinking and I suspect all of this is just about stringing along the White House."
Watch Scripps News' full interview with former CIA covert operations officer Mike Baker in the video player above.
