Natasha Mansukhani contributed to this article.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday, August 15 at Joint-Base Emendorf-Richardson for a highly-anticipated three-hour conversation on the future of the war in Ukraine.
The American President, flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions, Steve Whitkoff, went into the meeting with the goal of establishing a peace deal, which Trump had initially claimed would happen in the “first day” of his presidency.
Putin was accompanied by his veteran right-hand men, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Foreign Policy Advisor Yuri Ushakov, as well as new players in his administration, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
President Putin’s goals were simple: establish Russia’s diplomatic prestige and develop a closer relationship with the American president, potentially through trade, as per the BBC.
Read more: Anticipating Alaska: what to know ahead Trump and Putin’s historic summit
Also present at the summit was Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev, who was educated in the U.S. and claims to have links to American business elites. This would not be Dmitriev’s first stint using trade to help support Russia’s diplomatic facade- the CEO has received recognition from several countries for fostering friendly trade relationships with the Russian Federation.
When the two delegations exited the three-hour meeting for a joint-press conference between Trump and Putin, the Russian President took centre stage. He noted the U.S. and Russia’s shared history with Alaska, cemented his view that “the situation in Ukraine has to do with fundamental threats to our [Russian] security,” and encouraged the American president to “turn the page to go back to cooperation.”
In contrast, Trump kept his comments short, saying that the meeting was “productive,”, although he was also quick to acknowledge the heads of state hadn’t “quite gotten there” on a couple of big points.
Russian state media characterised the occasion as a “diplomatic victory” thanks to Putin re-positioning Russia in its “rightful place at the height of international diplomacy.”
President Trump is frequently portrayed in Russian state media as a faithful ally of Putin’s- one who plays by “Russian rules, and is occasionally distracted by trade with Beijing, New Delhi, and Brussels.”
Noticeably absent from Russian state media coverage was any mention of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, a topic of conversation which also went under the radar during Friday’s meeting.
Commentators are instead praising Putin’s wit and ability to outsmart his Western counterpart. For Putin’s domestic supporters, Friday’s summit suggests a step toward Russia’s return to global superpower status.
Western media are also describing Friday’s event a “victory” for Putin that left “Ukraine and its NATO allies [..] scrambling.” In response, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on his Monday visit to the White House in a display of European solidarity.
Image Source: The White House via X
Analysts expect a redemption from Zelenskyy’s February White House takedown, with the Ukrainian President and European allies looking to discuss potential “Article-5 type security guarantees” with Trump and his team. Article 5, the cornerstone of the NATO 1949 treaty, establishes the principle of collective defense; “an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies.”
Russian state media have noted a shift in the U.S. president’s tone, reporting what they describe as a change in Trump’s attitude toward a peace deal in Ukraine’s favour.
For Kyiv, Trump’s wavering stance on the war’s outcomes may prove its strongest leverage to refocus American attention on its historic allies.
Featured image:
Image: President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin meet in Anchorage, Alaska
Source: The White House via X
