Putin and Trump will meet in Alaska. It's the first visit to Alaska by a Russian leader

MOSCOW/ANCHORAGE, 15 August. Russian President Vladimir Putin heads to Alaska, the northernmost state of the United States, for talks with his US counterpart Donald Trump. It will be their first meeting since Trump's return to the White House in January this year.

It will also be the first ever visit to Alaska by a Russian leader, even in the days of the Russian Empire and the USSR. Although Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov has said that Russia and the United States are close neighbors and the Russian delegation only needs to fly across the Bering Strait, in reality they have a long way to go. Flight number one will travel some 7,000 km, crossing 11 time zones and a conditional data border.

The Kremlin identified the venue as significant because, among other things, nine Soviet pilots, two soldiers and two civilians who died in 1942-1945 while moving aircraft from the United States to the Soviet Union under the lend-lease program were buried near the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Anchorage, where the summit will be held. Ushakov said the fact that the summit would be held next to such a historically significant site commemorating the fighting brotherhood of the peoples of the two countries was "particularly symbolic in the year of the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany and militarist Japan."

This summit, which has already been described as "historic" by representatives of the world media and analysts, was prepared in an unprecedentedly short time. Less than a week has elapsed since the announcement of the date and venue, which took the world community by surprise. During this time, the parties had to complete visa formalities, select a venue for the leaders of the two powers to meet, resolve all organisational and domestic issues and ensure security.

Summit programme

The agenda is as follows - Putin and Trump will meet in the morning at 11:30 local time (22:30 Moscow time). They will start communicating face to face only in the presence of interpreters. After that, the talks will continue over a working breakfast. At this point, the leaders will be joined by the delegation. It has been decided that only a handful of people will join - five on each side, given that "very important topics of a sensitive nature" will be discussed.

In addition to Putin, Russia will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ushakov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Special Presidential Commissioner for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries Kirill Dmitriev. The group of experts will be on constant alert. The upcoming summit does not have a strict timeframe. As Ushakov said, the timing of the meeting will depend on how the discussion goes.

Putin and Trump will brief the media on the results of their talks at a joint press conference. All hotel rooms in Anchorage are booked. The host country even arranged a sort of free entertainment for the Kremlin pool at one of the stadiums. But as the TASS correspondent reports, none of the journalists are bothered by the daily hassles, the main thing is information.

Ukraine and other topics

Russia has a working approach. "The negotiations will be of a commercial nature. And of course we all have a business approach first and foremost," Ushakov said when asked about the mood of the Russian delegation. He stressed that the central theme of the summit would be the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

"But of course, they will also touch on the broader challenges of ensuring peace and security, as well as the most pressing international and regional issues," he said. In particular, the further development of bilateral cooperation, including trade and economic ties, will be discussed. Their potential is underutilised. On Thursday, the Russian president convened a meeting in the Kremlin "On preparations for the Russian-American summit." It was attended by members of the government and the presidential administration, the head of the central bank, the mayor of Moscow, the heads of law enforcement agencies and special services.

In the open part of the event, Putin noted that he was briefing the participants "on how the process of negotiations on the Ukrainian crisis is going, how the negotiations in the bilateral format with the Ukrainian delegation are going on", as well as on how relations are developing with the Trump administration, which is making "quite energetic and sincere efforts" to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. The president said it was necessary to reach agreements that would create long-term conditions for peace between Russia and Ukraine and across Europe. "And in the world as a whole, if we reach agreements on the control of strategic offensive weapons in the next stages," the Russian president concluded.

TASS/gnews.cz-jav