Nobody is particularly optimistic. Trump-Putin Alaska summit.

14 August 2025

Donald Trump made another batch of statements on the eve of the Anchorage summit. The US President still doubts that the meeting in Alaska will stop the fighting in Ukraine. The Kremlin said that it highly appreciates Washington's desire to find a peaceful way out of the crisis.

Preceding a special meeting in the Kremlin on an important negotiating topic, Vladimir Putin praised the sincere efforts of the current US leadership in its desire to find a peaceful solution to Ukraine. However, the head of state did not mention Donald Trump personally. The Kremlin's main thesis, apparently, remains unchanged: Ukraine is only the first step that must be taken on the path to creating a new world architecture. It is necessary to save planet Earth, first of all, to reduce the risks of a nuclear winter. For Moscow, this is the main task.

Dancing around Alaska

A popular term in the media is "new Yalta", which Anchorage can become, or rather, it has a chance to open the way to "new Yalta". This refers to the Yalta Conference of 1945, where the great powers defined the contours of the post-war world — they drew "red lines." True, the Cold War immediately began with a well-known ending.

However, let's not delve into history. It makes sense to announce the composition of the delegations. On the Russian side, in addition to the first person, it included the ministers of foreign affairs, defense and finance, respectively, Sergey Lavrov, Andrey Belousov and Anton Siluanov, as well as the special representative for economic cooperation with foreign countries Kirill Dmitriev and the assistant to the Russian president Yuri Ushakov.

America is represented, naturally, by Donald Trump himself, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The absence of the head of the Pentagon is noteworthy. This is not surprising, since it is believed that former TV host Pete Hegseth, to put it mildly, does not have the necessary diplomatic experience. Regarding the last fact, one can risk saying that the Russian side is superior to its colleagues in negotiations. Nevertheless, Rubio and Bessent know their business. And again, to put it mildly, they do not share the great optimism regarding Russia.

Who's phone rang

By the way, Bessent was quite harsh on the European allies, who are only good at giving advice. They demand new sanctions from the US, while they themselves buy Indian oil products produced from Russian oil. To this we can add that they also buy gas, albeit in smaller quantities.

In general, none of the observers are particularly optimistic. The White House reported that Trump is going to look Putin in the eyes, he wants to see in them a desire to end the hostilities in Ukraine. The Kremlin prefers to do without lyricism and beautiful phrases - it maintains a business style and avoids a large number of statements, unlike Western allies. Meanwhile, no agreements are being prepared for signing following the summit in Alaska, according to a statement from the Kremlin press service.