United States President Donald Trump landed on Friday (15) in Alaska to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting, scheduled to take place at the Elmenndorf-Richardson base, will have as its main agenda the war in Ukraine.
Putin had arrived early in the American territory. The Russian presidential plane landed hours earlier in Alaska, marking the first time the Russian leader steps on western soil since the Ukraine invasion began in February 2022. Since then, the conflict has already caused tens of thousands of deaths and resulted in the Russian control of almost 20% of the Ukrainian territory.
The meeting is scheduled to start at 4:30 pm local time. In addition to Trump and Putin, US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent participate in the summit, and CIA director Howard Lutnick. Also present are the White House Chief of Staff and the United States Secretary of Defense.
On the Russian side, the entourage includes Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Andrey Belousov. Lavrov drew attention to landing using a sweater with the inscription “CCCP”, acronym in Cyrillic to “USSR” – Soviet Union.
Trump said, before the meeting, that he wants to leave the meeting with a peace agreement for Eastern Europe still today. However, he stressed that decisions about territories would be up to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. The American also warned that the meeting may end within minutes if Putin does not accept to discuss a ceasefire.
Authorities indicate that in addition to the war in Ukraine, topics such as a new nuclear weapon control agreement and possible economic cooperation initiatives can be addressed.
United States special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, does not attend the meeting. On the Russian side, there is also no presence of some military advisers near Putin. Still, American and Russian diplomats claim that the meeting is considered high and strategic for the future of conflict negotiations.
