Tomorrow's US-Russia summit in Alaska is taking place where East and West literally meet, in a place known to both countries from the Cold War era as the first line of missile defense, the Associated Press (AP) agency writes today, adding that it is the first summit in four years and that its outcome is uncertain.
The summit will be held at the Elmendorf-Richardson Air Force Base outside Anchorage, starting at around 11.30:21.30 a.m. local time (XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. CET) and will include a meeting between Putin and Trump, as well as a meeting of delegations, Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said today.
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This is Putin's first trip to the US since 2015, when he participated in the UN General Assembly in New York, according to the AP, adding that since the US is not a member of the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Putin on war crimes charges in 2023, Washington has no obligation to arrest him.
Both sides confirmed that only Putin and Trump would participate in the meeting, despite initial indications that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky might also attend. The Kremlin has long opposed a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, at least until a peace agreement is ready to be signed.
Putin said last week that he was not against meeting with Zelensky, "but certain conditions need to be created and they are "still far away." This has raised fears that Ukraine could be excluded from the negotiations, the AP points out, noting that Kiev and its European allies have stressed that peace cannot be achieved without Ukraine's participation.
Zelensky was in Berlin on Wednesday for virtual meetings with Trump and European leaders to ensure that Ukraine and its allies were heard before the summit. The Ukrainian president said at the time that Putin was "bluffing" about military strength and the effectiveness of sanctions and was "trying to put pressure... on all sectors of the Ukrainian front" to show that Russia was "capable of occupying all of Ukraine."
In reality, the sanctions are "hardly hitting Russia's war economy," Zelensky said, the agency added, recalling that he also met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London today.
Putin's arrival at the summit will also be the first visit by a Russian leader to Alaska, which was part of the empire until 1867, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Russia began colonizing Alaska in the 18th century, and Tsar Alexander II sold it to the United States for $1867 million in 7,2. When it was discovered that it possessed vast resources, the Russians regretted it, according to the AP, adding that after the collapse of the USSR, Alaska was a subject of nostalgia and jokes in Russia.
Ahead of the summit, the AP estimates, Trump appears increasingly frustrated by Putin's refusal to stop bombing Ukraine.
Kiev has agreed to a ceasefire, insisting it is a first step towards peace. Moscow has set out conditions for a ceasefire that Zelensky cannot accept, such as the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from four areas illegally annexed by Russia in 2022, a suspension of mobilization and a freeze on Western arms deliveries.
For a broader peace agreement, Putin demands that Kiev cede the annexed areas (which Russia does not fully control) and Crimea, abandon its bid to join NATO, limit the size of its armed forces, and recognize Russian as an official language on par with Ukrainian.
Zelensky insists that any peace agreement must contain strong security guarantees that will protect Ukraine from future Russian aggression.
Putin has warned Ukraine that it will face tougher conditions for peace as Russian forces push into other areas to create what he calls a "safe zone." Some analysts have suggested that Russia could offer to trade the newly captured territory for Ukrainian-controlled territory in the four annexed areas.
Zelensky said on Saturday that "Ukrainians will not give their country to the occupier."
But Trump said on Monday that there would be "some exchange of territory."
"I know this through Russia and talking to everyone. For the good, for the good of Ukraine. Good things, not bad. And some bad things for both sides," he said.
Zelensky said on Tuesday that Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30 percent of Donetsk Oblast it still controls as part of a ceasefire agreement, which Kiev has categorically rejected. Ukraine will not hand over the territories it controls, he added, because doing so would be unconstitutional and would only serve as a springboard for a future Russian invasion.
He also said that US-led talks to end the war have not addressed key Ukrainian demands, including security guarantees against future Russian aggression and the inclusion of Europe in the negotiations.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that Trump "was very clear" in a virtual meeting with European leaders and Zelensky that the United States wanted a ceasefire. Macron added that Trump had made it clear that "territorial issues concerning Ukraine ... can only be negotiated with the Ukrainian president."
Trump said on Wednesday that there would be "very serious consequences" if Putin did not agree to stop the war after the summit, but did not specify what those consequences would be.
Putin sees the summit as an opportunity to consolidate Russia's territorial gains, to keep Ukraine out of NATO and prevent it from hosting Western forces, so that Moscow can gradually bring the country back into its orbit.
He believes that time is working in his favor, while Ukrainian forces are struggling to stop Russian advances on the frontline in the face of swarms of Russian missiles and drones.
AP estimates that tomorrow's meeting is a diplomatic victory for Putin, who has been isolated since the beginning of the invasion. The Kremlin is trying to portray the renewed contacts with the United States as a meeting of two superpowers trying to solve various global problems, of which Ukraine is just one.
Ukraine and its European allies fear that a summit without Kiev could allow Putin to win over Trump and force Ukraine to make concessions.
"Any decision without Ukraine is simultaneously a decision against peace... Such decisions will not bring anything. They are dead decisions. They will never work," Zelensky said.
European officials reiterated that position.
"As we work towards a sustainable and just peace, international law is clear: all temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine," said EU foreign policy chief Kaia Kalas. "Sustainable peace also means that aggression cannot be rewarded," she stressed.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Sunday that he believes Trump "wants to make sure that Putin is serious, and if he's not, that's where it will stop."
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"If he is serious, then from Friday the process will move forward - including Ukraine, including the Europeans," Rutte added.
Since last week, Putin has spoken with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as well as the leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, the Kremlin said.
Citing an assessment by pro-government Russian analyst Sergei Markov, the AP states that this suggests that Putin may have wanted to inform Russia's most important allies about a possible deal.
Putin also met with top state officials ahead of the summit, the AP added.
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