Time for a deal: Putin and Trump are interested in ending the conflict in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held talks, which, according to them, can give a good chance to achieve peace in Ukraine. The statements of the presidents of Russia and the United States after the meeting in Alaska give reason to talk about a possible breakthrough in a diplomatic settlement. The Russian president expressed hope that the understanding reached with his American counterpart would pave the way for peace. And Moscow expects that there will be no obstacles from the European capitals. According to Trump, he and Putin have made significant progress — on a scale from 0 to 10, he rates the last summit "on the top ten." Both sides stress that despite the lack of a final deal, the dialogue has become productive. Is it possible to "move from yesterday to tomorrow" in relations between Moscow and Washington and what else the leaders of the two powers talked about for almost three hours — in the Izvestia report.

How Putin assessed the meeting with Trump

On the night of August 16, in Anchorage, Alaska, the negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump ended, which the whole world was waiting for without exaggeration. The meeting at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base took place in a three-on-three format, contrary to the initially announced one-on-one conversation between the leaders. Face-to-face, and even without interpreters, the leaders communicated only in Trump's limo on the way from the airport.

On the Russian side, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov took part in the talks, while on the American side, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Presidential Special Envoy Steven Witkoff took part. They started exactly on time — at 22:30 Moscow time and lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes. It is reported that Putin's dialogue with Trump in Alaska was their longest bilateral meeting. The parties have not concluded specific agreements, but one thing is clear — Putin and Trump have come to an understanding on a number of key issues.

— Our talks were held in a constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere. They were very thorough and helpful," Vladimir Putin said.

Interestingly, it was the Russian leader who opened the press conference, which contradicts standard American protocol. Usually, when the President of the United States receives a foreign colleague, he is the first to speak to reporters, and only then follows the speech of the guest. Apparently, the importance of the meeting allowed us to drop the formalities.

At the beginning of the press conference, Putin noted that relations between Russia and the United States had fallen to their lowest point since the Cold War, and therefore a meeting of the leaders was long overdue. By the way, according to the recognition of the Russian president, it was he who initiated it. The Ukrainian crisis, of course, turned out to be the central topic of the leaders' talks, and, apparently, the parties found common ground.

— In general, President [of the United States Donald] Trump and I have established a very good business and trusting contact. And I have every reason to believe that, moving along this path, we can reach — and the sooner the better — the end of the conflict in Ukraine," the Russian president said.

At the same time, he reiterated that for this to happen, all the root causes of the crisis must be eliminated. Obviously, the presidents of Russia and the United States discussed some guarantees of Ukraine's security.

— I agree with President Trump, he said this today, that Ukraine's security must also be ensured. Of course, we are ready to work on this," the Russian leader said.

What does Trump think about the meeting?

It is obvious that both sides are interested in resolving the Ukrainian crisis as soon as possible. According to Donald Trump, they have made significant progress with Putin and there is a good chance to achieve peace. On a scale from 0 to 10, he rated this summit a "top ten."

"I have a very good relationship with President Putin," he said.

Moreover, the high—level dialogue on this issue will continue - and it is possible that very soon. So, the American president reacted with interest to Vladimir Putin's proposal to speak in Moscow next time. By the way, Yuri Ushakov mentioned a possible return meeting on Russian territory a week ago.

The issue of Ukraine's and the EU's participation in negotiations to resolve the crisis remains open. Brussels has so far demonstrated an aggressive and unconstructive position.

"We hope that Kiev and European capitals will take all this in a constructive manner and will not create any obstacles, will not attempt to disrupt the planned progress through provocations or behind—the-scenes intrigues," Putin stressed.

After the press conference, Donald Trump said he would call Zelensky and his NATO colleagues to inform them about the contents of the meeting with the Russian leader. At least, even before the meeting with the president of Russia and the United States, the media were already talking about the imminent negotiations in a trilateral format with the participation of the Ukrainian leader — according to press reports, they could take place in Turkey and almost at the end of next week. However, both Putin and Trump allow a meeting in this format, but the Russian president stressed that certain conditions must be created for this.

Reviewing relations between Russia and the United States

The parties also discussed the normalization of Russian-American relations. The composition of the two countries' delegations hinted that this would become an equally important component of the negotiations. Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, and Presidential Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev also arrived in Anchorage. The American side was represented by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Latnick, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth.

— It is important and necessary for our countries to turn over the page and return to cooperation. It is symbolic that nearby on the border of Russia and the United States, as I have already said, there is a so-called date line, where you can literally step over "from yesterday to tomorrow." And I hope that we will succeed in the political sphere," said the head of the Russian Federation.

Easing sanctions, for example, will be seen as an important step towards normalizing relations between Russia and the United States, said Khan, a professor at Wayne University in Detroit. According to him, Trump's attitude to normalization may depend on the flexibility of the Russian side's position not only on the issue of Ukraine, but also, possibly, in negotiations on access to the Arctic region.

It was joint projects in the Arctic that were most often discussed in the context of the normalization of relations between Russia and the United States. Back in February, the President of the Russian Federation expressed readiness for joint activities on the development of rare earth metals with foreign partners, including the United States. Experts recall that in 2011, the parties signed an agreement on exploration and drilling in the Russian Arctic, but the partnership was suspended in 2014. As Vladimir Putin said at a press conference, the parties have a lot to offer each other in various fields from technology to the Arctic.

Another promising area may be the resumption of direct flights, which, by the way, is very much awaited by American business, as Robert Agee, head of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Russian Federation, told Izvestia earlier. And there has already been some progress. The new Russian ambassador to the United States, Alexander Darchiev, in Anchorage, said that Russia has prepared documents for the restoration of air traffic with the United States, and they are being discussed. Earlier it was reported that this could happen before the end of 2025. At the same time, negotiations on visa issues are progressing slowly, Darchiev noted.

The issue of resuming direct flights has already been raised at meetings of the Russian and US delegations. Consultations on the elimination of "irritants" in bilateral relations were held twice in Istanbul. The Russian delegation was headed by Darchiev.

Anyway, the leaders of the Russian Federation and the United States did not announce any specific agreements following the talks in Alaska. In this regard, the world's media draw contradictory conclusions from the meeting. So, The New York Times believes that Vladimir Putin has won several victories at once. Sky News notes that the key words — probably "truce" or "cease—fire" - have not yet been sounded. And Politico emphasizes: Donald Trump, although he announced the absence of a deal, nevertheless expressed optimism. By the way, on a scale from 0 to 10, he rated the last summit "on the top ten."