ANCHORAGE /Alaska/, August 16. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, Donald Trump, concluded their meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. They spoke for nearly three hours in the presence of their foreign ministers and aides. Afterward, Putin and Trump made statements to the media. They declined to answer questions and then briefly spoke standing. Putin then laid flowers at the graves of Soviet pilots buried in Anchorage and departed back to Russia. Putin's first visit to the United States in ten years lasted just over five hours.

Key information about the summit, as of now:

Start of the summit
The Russian leader's plane landed at the joint Elmendorf-Richardson base at 10:54 local time (18:54 GMT). The welcoming ceremony at the airport began at 11:10 local time (19:10 GMT). Before the official photo opportunity at the airport in Anchorage, Putin and Trump exchanged a few words. The leaders avoided contact with the press and did not answer questions from journalists. The summit began with a one-on-one conversation in the American president's limousine. The leaders began communicating face-to-face on the way to the main meeting location.

Format: Three-on-three
The Russian delegation arrived at the meeting of presidents first, according to footage released by the Kremlin press service. The closed-door meeting in a "three-on-three" format began at 11:26 (19:26 GMT). In addition to the heads of state, the Russian side was represented by Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, while the American side was represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff.

When journalists entered the room where the leaders were meeting, they began to jostle for better positions. When the journalists were asked to leave the room, they began shouting questions, which somewhat surprised the presidents and members of the delegations. The presidents spoke for about three hours, starting with their initial brief conversation on the red carpet. Afterward, Putin and Trump held a joint press conference, during which they summarized the results of their discussions.

Focus on Ukraine
The situation surrounding Ukraine became one of the central topics of the summit, according to the Russian president. He expressed hope that the understanding he reached with Trump would pave the way for peace in Ukraine. Putin said that he and Trump "established very good and trustworthy relations." "I have every reason to believe that we can achieve an end to the conflict in Ukraine sooner rather than later," he said. Putin noted that Russian-American relations had fallen "to the lowest point since the Cold War" and that it was necessary to "rectify the situation and move from confrontation to dialogue." Shortly before the start of the summit, a TASS source reported that Putin and Trump would discuss global strategic security and that "the issue of sanctions and their destructive impact would also be addressed in one form or another."

"Enormous progress"Trump told reporters at the meeting that the leaders had indeed made enormous progress. "We agreed on many, many points. I would say, on several big ones, which we haven't completely gotten to yet, but we made some progress," said the American president. Later, he told a Fox News reporter that he rated the meeting with Putin "10 out of 10." At the end of his speech summarizing the summit, the Russian president, speaking in English, suggested that the next meeting be held in Moscow. Trump said that it was possible, although he acknowledged that he would be criticized for it.

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Cautious Media Reaction
American media reacted cautiously to the summit, emphasizing the lack of announced agreements or details about the discussions. The New York Times believes that Putin delayed the imposition of new sanctions, and Bloomberg noted that "none of the leaders provided clear details about their discussions or where they found common ground." The news agency pointed out that this will intensify concerns in European capitals and in Kyiv.

Putin's Last Meetings with American Leaders
Putin and Trump last met for a full summit in July 2018 in Helsinki, which lasted for more than two hours. They briefly met on December 1, 2018, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, and their conversation lasted approximately 15 minutes. Their last meeting took place on June 28, 2019, at the G20 summit in Osaka. The talks lasted for one hour and 20 minutes. On August 16, 2021, after the end of Trump's first term in office, Putin met with Biden in Geneva. The conversation lasted three and a half hours, including a break.

TASS/gnews.cz-jav