Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump
The high-stakes meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump took place in Anchorage, Alaska, with the Ukrainian crisis dominating negotiations. Both leaders offered positive assessments of the summit's results, with Trump describing great progress and agreement on numerous points, though no comprehensive Ukraine deal has yet been reached.
The U.S. president is expected to brief Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and European allies on the discussions in the near future. A potential trilateral meeting involving Trump, Putin and Zelensky has also been announced.
How the meeting went
A red carpet, applause, and firm handshakes - this is how the meeting between Putin and Trump began in Anchorage.
The two leaders stepped out of their planes almost simultaneously. Trump welcomed Putin with applause, then they shook hands firmly and walked along the red carpet rolled out on the tarmac.
“When they shook hands, it seemed like old friends meeting after a long time apart,” the Italian newspaper La Repubblica observed.
The White House published several photos of the presidents' meeting. The images were captioned “Historic” and “Pursuing Peace”.
The two leaders exchanged brief remarks, posed for photographs, and then entered Trump's vehicle together - marking the start of their face-to-face discussions en route to the negotiation site. Western media noted that Putin typically uses his own transport during foreign visits, making this joint car ride a notable exception. “The fact they are both sitting in the same car sends an unusual signal and demonstrates uncommon trust,” NTV German television correspondent Christoph Witte noted.
Upon arrival at the negotiation venue, both presidents were joined by their delegations. The Russian side included Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, while the U.S. delegation comprised Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff. Official talks commenced in a restricted “three-on-three” format.
Neither leader made public statements before the summit, though Trump spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One, emphasizing his desire to lay groundwork for a Ukrainian peace agreement while noting final terms must be negotiated between Moscow and Kiev. “It is not for me to negotiate Ukraine's deal, but I think I’ve got a pretty good idea what they’d like to see,” Trump told Fox News.
In an interview with Fox News, President Trump also revealed details of his phone conversation with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko. “He is friends with President Putin, as you know, very, very close neighbors, and they work together. He thinks that President Putin wants to make a deal,” Trump said, noting that Lukashenko was “very positive” about the Russia-U.S. summit in Alaska.
Summit results
The negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump lasted approximately three hours, marking their longest meeting to date, TASS reports. Following the “three-on-three” format talks, both leaders made statements to the press.
From their opening remarks, it became clear both leaders assessed the summit positively.
“Our talks were held in a respectful and constructive atmosphere. They were quite substantive and useful,” the Russian president said.
“Today we really made great progress. I’ve always had fantastic relationships with President Putin,” the American leader emphasized.
Typically, when the U.S. president hosts foreign leaders, joint press conferences begin with the American president's remarks followed by his guest. However, in Anchorage, the leaders departed from this tradition, with Putin opening the press conference.
The Russian leader thanked Trump for proposing to meet in Alaska. “It's quite logical to meet here, as our countries, though separated by oceans, are close neighbors,” the Russian leader said. He observed that over recent years, without direct leader-to-leader contact, U.S.-Russia relations had deteriorated to their lowest point since the Cold War. Putin suggested the time had come to move away from confrontation.
/more to come/
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