In the lead-up to his much-touted Friday summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, United States President Donald Trump expressed confidence in his ability to make concrete progress towards securing a ceasefire in Ukraine at the meeting.
Putin received the red carpet treatment as he was met with a lengthy handshake by Trump as he deplaned at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson military facility in the Alaskan city of Anchorage.
The warm greeting set a congenial tone for what were always going to be tough negotiations. But there was a more subdued atmosphere a few hours later as Trump and Putin departed on their respective planes – with no clear breakthrough on the war in Ukraine.
Here are some key takeaways from their meeting:
‘No deal until there’s a deal’
While the meeting was anticipated to take about seven hours, it wrapped up in less than three. Trump and Putin addressed a gathering of journalists after the talks with relatively brief pre-prepared statements. Neither leader took any questions.
Putin said his country is committed to ending the war, but the conflict’s “primary causes” must be eliminated for an agreement to be long-lasting.
Putin also warned Ukraine and the European Union against throwing a “wrench in the works” and cautioned against attempts to use “backroom dealings to conduct provocations to torpedo the nascent progress”.
A relatively subdued Trump praised the “extremely productive meeting”, in which he said “many points were agreed to”. He said there is a “very good chance of getting there” – referring to a ceasefire – but conceded that there remain sticking points with Moscow, including at least one “significant” one.
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He cautioned that it’s “ultimately up to them” – referring to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” he said.
And there was none by the time Trump and Putin left Alaska.
A PR coup for Putin
The Russian leader has become an increasingly maligned and isolated figure in the West since waging war on Ukraine in February 2022.
But on Friday, that ended, with a red carpet welcome, a flypast by US fighter jets and warm applause from Trump.
Putin himself seemed pleased, grinning out the window as he drove off the tarmac with Trump in the presidential Cadillac limousine known as “The Beast”.
“For three years they [Western media] have been talking about Russia’s isolation, and today they saw the red carpet that greeted the Russian president in the United States,” Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gloated after the summit, on Telegram.
Talking business
Before the meeting, it was widely anticipated that Putin would attempt to dilute peace talks with talk of bilateral trade and cooperation.
Trump had asserted that there would be no discussion of business with Putin until the pair had made substantive progress on bringing about a ceasefire in Ukraine.
This plan, however, seems to have been derailed somewhat, with the Russian president saying in his post-meeting statement that the pair discussed their collaboration in the areas of tech and space.
“It’s clear that US and Russian investment and business cooperation has tremendous potential. Russia and the US can offer each other so much. In trade, digital, high-tech and in space exploration, [and] we see that Arctic cooperation is also very possible,” he told reporters.
Russia has previously tried to pitch its vast reserves of rare earth minerals – critical for several cutting edge sectors – to the US to broker a breakthrough.
Next up: Another meeting – and pressure on Ukraine
As Trump thanked Putin for his time, he said he hoped they would meet again soon. Putin quickly responded by saying, in English with a laugh, “Next time, in Moscow”.
“I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I could see it possibly happening,” he said in response.
Trump has previously asserted that he hopes to host a trilateral meeting on ending the war in Ukraine very soon, this time attended by Ukraine’s Zelenskyy, too. In Alaska, the US leader said he would now call NATO officials and Zelenskyy to discuss the meeting.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity after the meeting, Trump was asked how he rated the summit on a scale of 10. He described the meet as a “10 out of 10”.
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“We got along great,” he said.
Then, he emphasised the importance of the Ukrainian leader agreeing to a deal.
“Now, it’s really up to President Zelenskyy to get it done. And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit. But it’s up to President Zelenskyy,” he said, adding that he’ll attend the next meeting “if they’d like”.
“Make a deal,” he said, in a message apparently for Zelenskyy.