For a little more than five hours, the heads of state for Russia and the United States focused the world’s gaze on Alaska, but their meeting ended abruptly and did not assist Ukraine in any way.
At times, Donald Trump was speculating on how a summit with Russia could increase his presidential rating, and Trump’s remarks revealed that he was planning on discussing a number of different approaches during the summit.
Neither of the two leaders provided a comment on the summit that was reported in the media, but the conclusion is that the parties did not come to an agreement.
The summit seemed to have been concluded abruptly after a press conference held earlier in the hour, which struck me as very unusual, considering how the two leaders decided to end the press questions.
These are the most important parts of the account in the period of Mr Trump and Mr Putin’s summit in Alaska.
1. The hero’s welcome gets more extraordinary as guests now arrive.
Every summit meeting, as expected, the moment the heads of state step off the plane, they expect a red carpet to be rolled out, but they receive a rather warm reception, which Mr Putin is not very accustomed to.
Mr. Putin seemed completely comfortable walking towards Mr. Trump, disregarded by the world, under arrest warrants for war crimes, and a man the entire world had closed its doors to, yet Putin looked completely unbothered. His fist-to-palm pose is best described as a mix of relief and enjoyment.
The leaders were grinning ear to ear, and for a moment, for a few split seconds, they had all the cameras on them as a performance to the world, and B-52 American Bombers were flying. These bombers are known to only fly over to honor their guests, and it is a display of utmost respect.
Mr. Putin does not hold back as a tactician and a brilliant mind war strategist. He most likely had a strategy for the summit, but instead, he was glee-filled while shaking Trump’s hand.
Come Mr. Trump’s Turn, he was escorted in by the Presidential beast, and while all the experts in Washington were debating over the move, it was critically dubbed unorthodox. Based on the footage, there wasn’t a hint that there was anyone else besides the hosts, not even interpreters.
Mr Putin does have the ability to hold a simple and casual conversation in English, so the time spent in the limousine was put to efficient and optimized use.
Although these moments just off the runway at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson may have seemed like a prelude to the summit, they held considerable weight.
Particularly when juxtaposing Mr Trump’s warmly diplomatic treatment of Mr Putin with the condescending treatment Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy received during his visit to the White House earlier this year.
2. From one-on-one to advisors in the room
Mr Donlad Trump had maintained he would be able to reason with Mr Putin and that he just needed to get into a room with the Russian leader, one-on-one.
Perhaps that moment came in the back of the Beast, but the first portion of the summit, initially planned as one-on-one, morphed into a 3-on-3 dialogue with each president bringing in two aides.
Accompanying Mr Trump was his Jack-of-all-trades special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mr Putin came with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his former aide, currently a foreign policy advisor, Yury Ushakov.
Initially, some lunch was planned, and during the second phase, which was expected to involve the broader delegation, trade and economics advisors were to be included. There is no indication whether these agenda topics were discussed or removed.
3. Trump confirms ‘no deal’
While en route to Alaska, Mr. Trump expressed to journalists that he expected a “rapid” outcome and would be displeased if a ceasefire were not achieved by the end of the day.
That was a generous expectation, and, of course, he did not accomplish that.
“We didn’t get there,” he admitted post-meeting.
“I will say that I believe we had a very productive meeting,” Mr. Trump commented while standing next to Mr. Putin during the short joint presser.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on – most of them, I would say.
“A couple of big ones that we haven’t quite got there, but we’ve made some headway. So, there’s no deal until there’s a deal.”
He put a positive spin on the setback.
“We’re going to stop… thousands of people a week from being killed, and President Putin wants to see that as much as I do.”
He did not talk about the “land swaps” he had hinted at, which fueled fears of a ‘take it or leave it’ proposition for Ukraine to cede territory. And neither leader provided any details on the agreements made or the issues that remained to be resolved.
During the summit, Trump mentioned in the post-summit interview with Fox News that he regarded the meeting as a “10” and that he was not willing to disclose the disagreements he and Mr Putin had.
4. Putin got the first word and the last
In what may have been a gesture of courtesy or a sign of negotiated strategy, Mr Putin opened the joint press conference by talking about the history of Alaska as part of Russia and then proceeded to suggest that there had been an agreement.
Russia, he noted, was sincerely interested in coming to a solution for the conflict in Ukraine, “but for the Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-term, all the root causes of the crisis must be eliminated.”
“All of Russia’s legitimate concerns must be taken into account, and a fair balance in the security sphere in Europe and the world as a whole must be restored.”
“I fully align with Donald’s views,” Donald Trump said. He mentioned, “We must consider Ukraine’s security, and I’ll add, without question, it must be guaranteed.” These are, indeed, things that we are ready to work on. “Let’s hope we can work toward the understanding that we are almost there, so we can clear the path to peace inside Ukraine”.
At one point, Mr Putin cited some “agreements” that were made. He characterized the talks in more bullish terms, calling them a “starting point” for both a “solution of the Ukraine issue” and a “revival of business relations” between the two countries, as per the translation of his remarks.
For Putin, the summit, which was the first one with a US President after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, was a big win in his eyes already, whatever the outcome was.
Putin can now depict the meeting as proof that the endless years of Western attempts to diplomatically isolate Russia have failed and that Moscow is reclaiming its place at the high table of international relations and diplomacy.
At the end of the press conference, Mr Trump thanked Mr Putin for the meeting and stated that the two of them will probably be seeing each other again soon.
Mr Putin, “Next time, in Moscow,” switched to English to have the last word and used the phrase “Next time, in Moscow”, which earned a response from Mr Trump. That’s an interesting one. I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening, he retorted. “Oh, that’s an interesting one.”
Mr. Trump has received that particular invitation prior; however, in this case, proposing that a second meeting occur in Moscow means that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wouldn’t be included in the negotiations, once again.
5: A rather sudden conclusion
The overarching impression is that only the initial segment of the summit has been conducted. The Kremlin believes the discussions were fruitful, but in the end, there were no significant statements made following the meeting.
A noticeable highlight is the briefing between Mr. Donald Trump and Mr. Putin. The two appear not to be taking any questions, a unique form of silence by the US President.
It took the two no more than an hour to exit the stage, in which time they had privately ascended to their planes and left in opposite directions.
As the summit proceeded on Friday, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continued to rage. The days leading up to the meeting in Alaska, Mr. Zelenskyy made it clear that he would not entertain the prospect of giving Moscow any land.
Responding to Kyiv is not swift, and the opposition leader from Ukraine is suggesting that Putin has simply expanded the time he has to act.
“No agreements have been made on ceasefire or de-escalation.”
During the press meeting, Donald Trump said he would call Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO leaders to brief them on the Alaska talks. source
