By Anthony Marcus for Eurasia Business News, August 15, 2025. Article n°1708
The U.S. president Donald Trump and the Russian president Vladimir Putin are meeting tonight, August 15, at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, for a high-stakes summit. This is the first meeting between the two leaders since Trump’s re-election in 2024 and their first as sitting presidents since 2019.
Vladimir Putin’s last visit to the U.S. was in 2015, when he was at the U.N. in New York for tense talks with then-President Obama over Ukraine and Syria. In 2001, he made a state visit, stopping in Washington, D.C., New York and Texas. In 2007, President Putin visited then-President George W. Bush at the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.
The Tu-214 with president Vladimir Putin on board entered US airspace two hours ago, reported FlightRadar24 data. Vladimir Putin arrived in Anchorage at 10:55 AM, local time.
Both presidents smiled and shook hands as they met on the tarmac at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Their meeting began just before 11:30 a.m. local time.
The White House announced that after the negotiations, Trump will give an interview to Fox News.
Negotiations in a narrow format have ended.
Journalists are invited to gather in the hall where the press conference of Putin and Trump will be held, according to media reports.
Russian president spokeperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN that Sergey Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov will participate in the three-on-three meeting from Russia. From the United States, in addition to Trump, there will be Rubio and Whitkoff. Earlier, it was expected that the presidents would talk tete-a-tete.
Anchorage is about 4,300 miles from the Kremlin, and about 3,300 miles from the White House, so one could argue it is sort of a midway point between the two superpowers.
The main focus of the talks is the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war. Trump aims to negotiate a ceasefire agreement to end the conflict that has been going on since February 24, 2022. The U.S. president wants to get Putin to the negotiating table but does not expect to immediately strike a peace deal.
The U.S. president has warned Putin of “severe consequences” if he doesn’t agree to a cease-fire, including potentially harsh new sanctions that would ramp up economic pressure on Russia.
Vladimir Putin’s objective is to maintain Moscow’s influence over Kyiv and assert Russia’s territorial gains made during the war. The two have clashing goals—Trump seeks peace and a ceasefire, while Putin seeks to solidify Russia’s position and limit Western influence in Ukraine.
According to Trump, Europe is not imposing conditions on him to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, but will be involved in this process.
Vice President Vance said he would pray for peace: “Grateful for President Trump’s leadership today as he traveled to Alaska to meet with Russian President Putin. I pray for peace in the coming days.” He himself does not participate in the Russian-American summit.
The summit venue in Alaska is symbolically important, as Alaska was once Russian territory until sold to the United States in 1867. The meeting at this Cold War-era military base marks a significant diplomatic event, as it is the first US-hosted meeting between the two leaders since 2007.
The summit is also occurring in a tense context of nuclear threats and military posturing, with recent escalations including Russia renouncing the 1987 Nuclear Forces Treaty and movements of US nuclear submarines near Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not attending, and there are concerns from Ukraine and its allies that Trump might pressure Ukraine into unfavorable territorial concessions as part of any ceasefire deal. Zelensky rejects giving up land. In a statement posted to Telegram, Zelensky said Ukraine’s territorial integrity, enshrined in the constitution, must be nonnegotiable, and emphasized that lasting peace must include Ukraine’s voice at the table.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s delegation during his visit to Alaska included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessaint, Secretary of Commerce Howard Latnick and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, according to the White House pool. Members of Trump’s delegation also included US Special Presidential Envoy Steve Whitkoff and White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt.
The U.S. Special Presidential Envoy Keith Kellogg wanted to take part in the summit, but he was not included in the delegation. This was reported by CNN with reference to a European high-ranking official. The Russian side considers Kellogg a person sympathetic to Kiev.
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The Russian delegation at the summit includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Special Presidential Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries Kirill Dmitriev.
On August 6, the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, their meeting lasted about three hours. As presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said after the talks, the meeting had two topics – the conflict in Ukraine and “prospects for the possible development of strategic cooperation between the United States and Russia.”
Announced by president Trump on August 9, this Alaska summit is a critical moment for US-Russia relations, marked by the leaders’ contrasting objectives: Trump’s push for a ceasefire to end the war and Putin’s aim to secure Russia’s strategic gains and global standing. The outcome could significantly impact the future trajectory of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and broader international diplomacy. The absence of European representatives show the geopolitical weakness of Europe amid great powers like the U.S., Russia or China.
Russia had asked in December 2021 for a bilateral agreement over security guarantees in Europe. Moscow was feeling threatened as the U.S. was building the military capacities of Ukraine, after using Romania since 2015 and Poland since 2018 for anti-missile defense systems Aegis Ashore and NATO deployment forces.
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