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Trump suggests other European leaders, including Zelensky, could be invited to a second meeting following today’s summit
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U.S. President Donald Trump has billed his summit with Vladimir Putin as “high stakes” as he flies to Anchorage, Alaska, for their first one-on-one meeting in seven years.
Trump is set to greet Putin when he exits his plane in Alaska at roughly 11 a.m. local time (3 p.m. E.T.), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Russian state television.
Russian and U.S. delegations began arriving in the city on Friday, with footage showing Trump boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before its departure. On Truth Social, Trump posted a blunt two-word warning: “HIGH STAKES!!!”
Meanwhile, Russia’s veteran foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, was spotted in Anchorage in a vintage USSR sweatshirt. He told reporters Moscow “never plans ahead” – a remark that added to the uncertainty surrounding the talks.
Trump has vowed that the Russian president is “not going to mess around with me” as he attempts to secure a ceasefire deal. He also floated the possibility of bringing in European leaders, including Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, for a second round of negotiations.
The White House said Friday’s programme will include a one-on-one meeting between the two presidents, a bilateral lunch with their delegations, and a joint press conference.
Here’s a rundown of Trump’s and Putin’s meetings during Trump’s first stint as U.S. president.
Trump and Putin first met at the G-20 summit in Hamburg just months into Trump’s first term. The meeting took place following allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. election to undermine Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also attended the meeting. Lavrov is also present in Alaska for Friday’s talks.
Tillerson subsequently said that Trump asked Putin twice if the claims that Russia interfered in the election were true, with Putin rejecting the allegations both times.
The meeting was set to last for 35 minutes, but went on for more than two hours, as they discussed the Syrian war, North Korea, cybersecurity, and other issues.
Trump and Putin also spoke during a dinner for G-20 leaders, a meeting that wasn’t disclosed at the time.
Trump and Putin met briefly during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang, Vietnam, after the White House announced that they wouldn’t have a formal sit-down meeting, pointing to scheduling issues.
They smiled, shook hands, and posed for the group photo during the summit.
During a joint press conference at a summit between the two leaders in Helsinki, Finland, Trump seemed to side with the Russian leader over his own intelligence community as he appeared to accept Putin’s denials that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
At the summit, Putin and Trump spoke alone for two hours with only their interpreters present. Trump was seen winking at Putin at least twice during the summit.
Trump would later claim that he misspoke during the summit and that he accepted the view of the intelligence community that Russia interfered in the election. But he added that it “could be other people also” — a view not supported by evidence.
At the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Trump and Putin spoke briefly. Still, the U.S. president mostly kept his distance from the Russian leader amid the Department of Justice’s probe into Russia’s interference in the election.
At the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, some months after the release of the Mueller report into Russian election interference, the two leaders appeared to have a friendly rapport.
Putin said the two had not had a formal meeting since the Helsinki summit and that their meeting in Japan would be a “great opportunity to follow up on that.”
Asked by reporters about the investigation, Trump told Putin with a smile, “Don’t meddle in the election.”
Watch live as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin hold “high stakes” talks on Ukraine in Alaska on Friday (15 August).
The Anchorage summit, which will be held at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, will mark the US president and Russian leader’s first one-on-one meeting in six years.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who is notably absent from the discussions, said that he is “counting on America” to “open a real path toward a just peace”.
Read more:
Trump took to Truth Social on Friday to praise the “highly respected” authoritarian leader of Belarus.
“I had a wonderful talk with the highly respected President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko,” said Trump. “The purpose of the call was to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners. We are also discussing the release of 1,300 additional prisoners.”
“Our conversation was a very good one. We discussed many topics, including President Putin’s visit to Alaska,” he added. “I look forward to meeting President Lukashenko in the future. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Trump is set to greet Putin when he exits his plane in Alaska at roughly 11 a.m. local time (3 p.m. E.T.), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Russian state television.
Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska has dominated politics in Europe since it was announced more than a week ago.
Keir Starmer has spent the intervening days locked in discussions with other European leaders as they battle to influence a summit that could define the future of peace on the edge of the continent.
On Thursday, he also hosted President Zelensky in Downing Street, the latest in a string of public shows of unity behind Ukraine’s right to decide its own future.
But don’t expect an immediate response from the British government to tonight’s US-Russia summit.
Instead, The Independent understands the UK will respond on Saturday morning.
It is thought likely that this will come after the prime minister has calls with other European leaders.
With an unpredictable President in the White House, No. 10 has been wargaming possible outcomes to these talks. But it still may take time to make sense of what unfolds in the next few hours.
Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev took to X to joke that the Russian delegation is being “outnumbered” by the Americans after noting the size of the U.S. presence.
Dmitriev noted on Friday morning that the White House delegation includes Marco Rubio, Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick, Steve Witkoff, Karoline Leavitt, John Ratcliffe, Susie Wiles, and Dan Scavino.
“Ambush. Our delegation is outnumbered,” he later added.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he’s not trying to end the war in Ukraine to improve his “health.”
“I’m not doing this for my health. Okay, I don’t need it,” he said on the way to Alaska, according to CNN. “I’d like to focus on our country, but I’m doing this to save a lot of lives.”
He reiterated that there would be “very severe” economic consequences for Russia if Putin doesn’t agree to a deal to end the fighting.
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