- The Trump-Putin Alaska Summit
By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
The Summit: Next Time in Moscow?
The high stakes bilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was vaunted as a vital step toward peace in the Ukraine war.
Bur with no ceasefire but an invitation to Moscow, the almost three-hour meeting between the two leaders has yielded more questions than answers.
The BBC’s Laura Gozzi enumerates five key takeaways from the Alaska summit.
- Putin is welcomed back on the world stage with red carpet
When President Vladimir Putin landed back onto the world stage last Friday, the skies in Alaska were cloudy.
Waiting with a red carpet spread across the tarmac of the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson was US President Donald Trump.
As Putin approached, Trump clapped.
The two leaders warmly shook hands and smiled.
It was a remarkable moment for Putin – a leader who most Western nations have shunned since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
His international travel has since been largely limited to nations friendly to the Russian Federation, such as North Korea and Belarus.
The fact that the Alaska summit happened at all was a victory for Putin.
But this welcome must have surpassed the Kremlin’s wildest dreams.
In a short six months, Putin went from being a pariah in the eyes of the West to being welcomed on US soil like a partner and friend.
To cap it off, in an apparently unscripted moment, Putin decided to accept a lift to the airbase in Trump’s armoured limousine instead of driving in his own Moscow-plated presidential state car.
As the vehicle pulled away, the cameras zoomed in on Putin, sitting in the backseat with Trump and grinning (BBC).
- Putin was faced with questions he never gets asked
In his 25 years as Russian president, Putin has achieved complete control over the media, crushing journalistic freedoms and replacing information with propaganda.
Within Russia he never comes up against unfriendly reporters.
Yet it was only minutes after landing in Alaska that one journalist shouted in his direction: “Will you stop killing civilians?”
If the question bothered him, he didn’t show it, appearing instead to shrug and diverting his gaze.
During a brief and somewhat chaotic photo op, more questions were shouted, including one in Russian about whether Putin would be ready to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky for a trilateral summit.
Again, there was no obvious reaction from the Russian president beyond a cryptic smirk (Gozzi/ BBC).
- What was said when talks ended earlier than expected
The world’s media gathered in the room with Putin and Trump had been led to expect a press conference; instead, the two leaders gave statements and took no questions.
Unusually, Putin was the first to speak. He praised the “constructive atmosphere of mutual respect” of the “neighbourly” talks [after all the two Russian and American islands in the Behring Strait are only a few kilometres apart], and then launched into a condensed history of Alaska’s past as a Russian territory.
As Putin spoke, Trump stood in silence.
It was several minutes before the Russian president mentioned what he called the “situation in Ukraine” – ostensibly the catalyst for the summit.
When he did, it was to state that although an unspecified “agreement” had been reached, the “root causes”of the conflict had to be eliminated before peace could be achieved.
The phrase must have set off alarm bells in Kyiv and beyond.
Since the start of the war it has become shorthand for a series of intractable and maximalist demands that Putin says stand in the way of a ceasefire.
They include recognition of Russian sovereignty over the Ukrainian regions of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as well as Ukraine agreeing to demilitarization, neutrality, no foreign military involvement and new elections.
Essentially, they amount to capitulation – unacceptable to Kyiv, but clearly – even after three-and-a-half years of bloody conflict – still paramount to Moscow (BBC/ Gozzi).
With this, it was clear that there was no deal.
- And what was not said
Extraordinarily – given the context and the premise for the summit – when it was Trump’s turn to speak he did not mention Ukraine or the possibility of a ceasefire once.
The closest he came to referencing the conflict was saying that “five, six, seven thousand people a week” are killed and noting that Putin too wanted to see an end to the bloodshed.
The usually loquacious Trump seemed to have less to say than Putin.
His statement was notable for its relative, and unusual brevity – but primarily for its vagueness.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on, Trump claimed, adding that “great progress” had been made in an “extremely productive meeting”.
But he did not share any details and it did not appear that any concrete steps were taken toward a resolution of the Ukrainian conflict.
No major agreements or a trilateral meeting with President Zelensky were announced.
And – to Moscow’s relief – there was no mention of any “severe consequences” that Trump had previously threatened would follow if a ceasefire wasn’t reached.
“We didn’t get there,” Trump admitted.
Then, optimistically though vaguely, he added: “But we have a very good chance of getting there.”
- “Next time in Moscow” – Putin makes rare aside in English
The summit may have failed to yield any tangible progress toward peace in Ukraine, but it surely cemented the rapprochement between Russia and the US.
Pictures of the two presidents repeatedly shaking hands and grinning travelled far and wide on social media – as did images of American servicemen kneeling as hey rolled out the red carpet at the foot of Putin’s plane.
Before wrapping up his statement, Putin referenced one of the US president’s frequent talking points – that the conflict in Ukraine would have never started had Trump been in power [this may have been high praise for Trump, but it was nevertheless pure speculation].
Despite Trump’s assertion of “great progress”, nothing of substance was unveiled at the Alaska summit – yet the two leaders left the door open for another meeting, this time on Russian soil.
“I’ll probably see you again very soon,” Trump said.
Rounding off a joint statement, where he had to make no promises, no concessions and no compromises, Putin may have felt at ease enough to break into English – a rare occurrence.
Chuckling, he looked at Trump and said: “Next time in Moscow.”
“Oh, that’s an interesting one,” Trump said. “I’ll get a little heat on that one, but I – I could see it possibly happening (BBC)”
Preliminary bottom line: A long way for nothing!
Trump’s ceasefire pivot will cause dismay in Kyiv & Europe
No deal in Alaska. It was always the most likely and, in the absence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, perhaps the most desirable outcome (BBC/Paul Adam, Aug. 16).
But US President Donald Trump’s pivot away from the need for an immediate ceasefire, which he said beforehand he wanted, will have caused profound dismay in Kyiv and around Europe.
Russia’s position has long been that a ceasefire can only come in the context of a comprehensive settlement taking into account of Russia’s interests – and inevitably implies Ukraine’s capitulation.
That’s the position that Trump, once again, appears to have endorsed.
Security Guarantees
Several reports suggested the idea of guarantees outside NATO but “inspired by NATO’s Article 5” (the alliance’s collective defence clause) were discussed during Saturday morning’s call between Trump and European leaders.
Trump, it was reported, indicated that the US would be willing to act if Russia launched another attack on Ukraine [ after signing a ceasefire/comprehensive peace agreement ].
Ivo Daalder, a former US ambassador to NATO, said it was “just not credible” for Ukraine to receive such protection without actually joining the alliance.
“I don’t believe that President Trump is willing to go to war against Russia to protect Ukraine,” he told the BBC.
In the wake of Trump’s apparent about-face, you can almost hear the sound of minds spinning across European capitals.
In London, the government appears to be putting on a positive or brave face.
“If you can get that all done [a ceasefire and a peace agreement] in one go or in quick succession that’s obviously a good thing,” said a senior Downing Street source.
Trump has walked away from the idea of an immediate, no doubt informed by Putin’s highly contentious account of how ceasefires have broken down in the past [for which Putin himself was responsible].
European leaders to join Zelensky for talks with Trump
European leaders will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Washington on Monday seeking an end to Moscow’s invasion, after President Donald Trump dropped his push for a ceasefire following his Alaska summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Securing a ceasefire in Ukraine, more than three years after Putin ordered the invasion, had been one of Trump’s core demands before the summit, to which Ukraine and its European allies were not invited.
But after a quasi-summit that yielded no clear breakthrough, Trump ruled out an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine – a move that would appear to favour Putin, who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal.
Ukraine and its European allies have criticized it as a way to buy time and press Russia’s battlefield advances, with German Chancellor Merz, French President Macron and European Commission President von der Leyen set to try and bend Trump’s ear on the matter.
Ahead of the Washington visit on Monday, von der Leyen said on ‘X’ she would welcome Zelensky for a meeting in Brussels on Sunday which other European leaders would join by video call, before accompanying the Ukrainian leader on his US trip at his “request” with “other European leaders”.
The German government confirmed Merz was among those other European leaders, and would try to emphasize “interest in a swift peace agreement in Ukraine.”
Finland said its president, Alexander Stubb would also travel to Washington.
Notably, Trump said the United States was prepared to provide security guarantees, as assurance Merz hailed as “significant progress”.
However, there was scathing assessment of the summit from the European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas, who accused Putin of seeking to “drag out negotiations” with no commitment to end the bloodshed.
“The harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war any time soon,” Kallas insisted.
The writer can be reached at:
shashimalla125gmail.com
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