John Bolton Warns Potential Trump-Putin Summit Would Be a Strategic Trap for U.S.

WASHINGTON – Former national security adviser John Bolton issued a stark warning Thursday against a potential summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that such a meeting would be a strategic trap designed by the Kremlin to manipulate U.S. policy on Ukraine.

In an appearance on NewsNation, Bolton cast deep skepticism on the prospect of a diplomatic breakthrough, suggesting that Putin would use the high-profile meeting to advance his own agenda and project an image of international legitimacy, all while taking advantage of what Bolton described as the president’s dangerously oversimplified view of foreign relations.

The warning comes at a critical moment, just one day before a White House deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face crippling new U.S. sanctions. The president has expressed increasing frustration with the ongoing war and has raised the prospect of a face-to-face meeting with Putin, though it remains unclear when or where such a summit would take place.

“I think Putin’s going to try to take advantage of this one-on-one summit with Trump to advance his agenda, to put out a Russian peace plan, or ceasefire plan, in order to have Trump take it to [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky] and see if Zelensky rejects it,” Bolton said.

He characterized the potential meeting not as a genuine effort to end the conflict, but as a public relations battle. “It’s posturing to see who can look like they’re more interested in peace,” Bolton said. “I still think the parties are a long way apart.”

Bolton, who served as Trump’s third national security adviser, argued that the Russian leader’s primary motivation for a summit would be to pull President Trump back into his orbit and restore his own standing on the world stage. He expressed deep concern that the president does not grasp the strategic intricacies of the situation.

“Trump is getting into something he doesn’t understand the gravity of. He’s precipitating this meeting because it will be great press,” Bolton said. “I don’t know where the meeting will be, but it will be surrounded by cameras and reporters.”

At the core of Bolton’s critique is what he described as Trump’s fundamental misunderstanding of international relations. He argued that the president’s entire foreign policy is based on a flawed and simplistic belief that good personal relationships between heads of state are all that is needed to resolve complex geopolitical issues.

“I think Trump is obviously displeased with Putin, but he’s also been careful to say that he’s not done with him yet — that he still hopes somehow, that their friendship can be recreated, and like two good friends, they can resolve the war in Ukraine,” the former Trump official said.

“He still believes that fundamentally, international relations are the personal relations between heads of state,” Bolton continued. “And if he has a good personal relationship with a foreign leader, U.S. relations with that state are good. And that is a gross oversimplification.”

As the administration’s Friday deadline for a ceasefire looms, the prospect of a high-profile presidential summit introduces a new and volatile element into the crisis. Bolton’s stark warning suggests that far from being a path to peace, such a meeting could be a strategic blunder, a carefully laid trap that the Russian leader is hoping the American president will walk right into.