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United States President Donald Trump will meet Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Friday (August 15) in an attempt to find a way to end the war in Ukraine.
At a time when Europe perceives an existential threat from Russia and the continent’s ties with the US are being tested, and when Ukraine’s future is at stake, neither the Europeans nor the Ukrainians will be present.
In that sense, the Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage, Alaska, is reminiscent of Yalta 1945, when the leaders of the US, UK, and the Soviet Union met to decide the future of post-War Europe without Charles de Gaulle of France at the table.
This will be the first in-person meeting between the leaders of the US and Russia since June 2021, when Putin met then President Joe Biden in Geneva. The meeting did not go well, and Russia invaded Ukraine eight months later.
Putin will be the first Russian leader to visit Alaska, which was sold to the US in 1867 for $7.2 million. He last visited the US in 2015 to attend events at the United Nations.
The meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson will be Putin’s first with Trump after he returned to the White House this January. The two leaders met in person on six occasions during Trump’s first term (2017-21), the last meeting being the one on June 28, 2019 at the G20 leaders’ summit in Osaka, Japan.
Trump had famously promised to end the war in 24 hours. Within a month of his inauguration, the President spoke with Putin — with whom he had claimed to have a good relationship for years — over the phone for 90 minutes.
On February 18, senior American and Russian officials met in Riyadh — the first in-person contact between Washington DC and Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ten days later, Trump and Vice President J D Vance berated Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in front of press cameras at the White House. At this time, Putin was seen to have a clear advantage.
But in April, following negotiations led by Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Trump had a “very productive” meeting with Zelenskyy at the Vatican. He then posted on social media that “there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas”.
In July, Trump told the BBC in an interview that he was “disappointed in” Putin, even though he was not yet “done with him”. Hours earlier, Trump had announced plans to send weapons to Ukraine, and had warned of strong tariffs action against Russia if there was no ceasefire deal in 50 days.
The President subsequently moved up this timeline to 10 days, citing his disappointment with Putin. He complained that his “nice” and “respectful” conversations were followed by Russian missile attacks on civilians.
On August 7, the day before the deadline, Trump said the ball was in Putin’s court — “It’s gonna be up to him…Very disappointed.”
This week, Trump sought to downplay expectations from the Alaska summit. “This is really a feel-out meeting,” he said, predicting he would know “probably in the first two minutes” whether a deal would be possible.
But on Wednesday, after a virtual conference with Zelenskyy and European leaders which he rated at “a 10” and “very friendly”, Trump threatened “severe consequences” if Putin did not agree to a deal.
Trump, with his fascination with stopping wars and conflicts, wants to show the world that he has delivered in Ukraine. He aspires for the Nobel Peace Prize, and likely suspects that he is being played by Putin. That frustrates him.
For Putin, the meeting will be a victory from the moment he lands in Alaska. He has been declared an outcast by the West, and he will be on American soil at a time he has charges of war crimes against him. Recognition from the leader of the world’s most powerful country is proof that efforts to isolate him have failed.
Putin has aimed high — asking for not just all the Ukrainian territories that Russia currently occupies and a ban on Ukraine’s entry into NATO, but also the removal of Zelenskyy.
He will also be looking at an easing of the sanctions on Russia, which have affected its technology and defence industries. Russia’s budget deficit is increasing, and its income from oil and gas exports is under pressure.
Zelenskyy’s immediate objective is a ceasefire, a stop to the attacks on Ukrainian cities and the killings of Ukrainians. But Kyiv has also stressed that for any talks to be even remotely substantive, the next stage must be about a durable peace that both sides will honour.
“We support what President Trump wanted — a ceasefire, and then sit down at the negotiating table and talk about everything else,” Zelenskyy told reporters this week.
The other goal is NATO membership, and Russia, Zelenskyy has said, “cannot have any right of veto on this matter”. Ukraine wants continued Western military assistance to strengthen and modernise its armed forces.
Ukraine has also insisted that it will not give up any regions that are currently occupied by Russian forces.
As Trump seeks to pile pressure on Russia, he has squeezed India with a 25% “penalty” for buying Russian oil, in addition to 25% tariffs on Indian exports to the US.
For Trump, India is the easiest target — the US has limited leverage with China, which buys the most energy from Russia.
NATO chief Mark Rutte had earlier warned India, China, and Brazil that they could face severe economic penalties if they continued to do business with Russia. India and Brazil face 50% US tariffs, the highest in the world.
India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met with Putin in the Kremlin last week, and the next day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with the Russian President. Three days later, Modi called up Zelenskyy.
The outcome of the Alaska summit is of much consequence for India. New Delhi hopes that if Trump comes out feeling good with a “win” in his mind, it could lead to a rethink of the 25% penalty.
Hours after Trump announced the meeting with Putin, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, “India welcomes the understanding reached between the United States and the Russian Federation”.
“This meeting holds the promise of bringing to an end the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and opening up the prospects for peace. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said on several occasions, ‘this is not an era of war’,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
Besides hoping for the removal of the penalty for buying Russian oil, India would be keen to participate in the rebuilding of Ukraine, as the post-conflict future emerges.
India will also be looking at how Beijing moves on the peace negotiations, and whether the US — after bringing the Ukraine war to an end — is able to refocus on the Indo-Pacific strategy to counter China.
