When President Barack Obama and other world leaders gather in Germany next week, Russia’s Vladimir Putin will be left off the guest list, part of his punishment for more than a year of alleged Kremlin-supported aggression in Ukraine.
But despite vows from Obama and his European counterparts to isolate Putin as long as the crisis in Ukraine remains unresolved, the Russian leader is still a central player in major international affairs, including the US-led nuclear talks with Iran. Just this month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel travelled to Moscow for talks with Putin and Secretary of State John Kerry went to Sochi to confer with the Russian leader. Putin and British PM David Cameron also spoke by phone in recent days and agreed to resume talks aimed at ending Syria’s civil war, another matter where Putin’s cooperation is crucial.