Trump Teases High-Stakes Putin Summit—Geopolitical Markets Brace for Impact

Former US president drops bombshell announcement about imminent Moscow meetup—just as crypto volatility spikes to 2025 highs.

Geopolitical poker: The art of the deal meets nuclear diplomacy. Will this move trigger another ’safe haven’ gold rush—or send Bitcoin hodlers scrambling?

Meanwhile in finance: Hedge funds already pricing in 3x leveraged ’Triumph of the Will’ ETF derivatives. Because nothing says stable returns like betting on authoritarian handshakes.

Zelenskyy and Putin avoid direct meetings in Turkey

Talks between Russia and Ukraine did happen in Istanbul but without either leader present. Instead of going himself, Putin sent a group of mid-level negotiators. 

Trump had previously hinted that he might go to Turkey for a face-to-face with both Putin and Zelenskyy, but those plans were dropped after Putin backed out. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy also chose not to attend, signaling he only wanted to sit down with someone who could actually make decisions.

The negotiations in Turkey were the first direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in over three years. Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s top priority at the meeting was to get an unconditional ceasefire in place. That WOULD be the starting point for broader peace discussions.

Over in Tirana, leaders from across Europe were gathered for the European Political Community Summit. Zelenskyy addressed the crowd remotely and said again that he’s ready to meet with Putin himself — but only if Putin takes the process seriously. So far, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

EU prepares more sanctions, calls on U.S. for support

While Trump keeps working on arranging a meeting with his former buddy, the European Union is preparing another package of sanctions against Russia. 

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said on Friday that Europe has no choice but to apply more pressure. “He does not want peace,” she said about Putin, “so we have to increase the pressure.”

This will be the 18th sanctions package since the war began. But getting all 27 EU members to agree on new penalties isn’t easy. Diplomats have admitted it’s getting harder every time to reach a full consensus.

That’s part of why the U.S. role is still seen as essential. European officials have stressed that sanctions won’t be fully effective without American backing.

Von der Leyen said the main targets in the new package would include a ban on Nord Stream, expanded shadow fleet blacklists, a lower price cap on Russian crude oil, and more penalties against Russian banks.

The Nord Stream pipelines, built by Gazprom, were bombed in 2022, cutting off a major energy route from Russia to Germany. Even though they’re already out of commission, banning them outright is meant to block any future revival or workaround.

While speaking at the summit in Albania, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told other leaders, “What we saw yesterday and overnight is yet more evidence that Putin is not serious about peace.”

He added that if Putin continues stalling and refusing to send high-ranking officials to the table, more coordinated sanctions will be necessary. “We’ll be working on that again today,” he said, “to be clear that there must be a ceasefire, but also to be clear that should there not be a ceasefire, then we will act together in relation to sanctions.”

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