Trump Gives Putin a First-Rate Welcome at Alaska Summit

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The U.S. president welcomed his Russian counterpart to their Ukraine war summit with bonhomie.

By Alexandra Sharp, the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin strides forward on a red carpet with his hand outstretched as U.S. President Donald Trump waits with his hand out on another red carpet. Behind them are other people and officers next to the jetway of a plane.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) greets U.S. President Donald Trump on the tarmac after arriving at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

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U.S. President Donald Trump rolled out the red carpet (literally) for Russian President Vladimir Putin when the two men arrived in Alaska on Friday for their closely watched summit on the Ukraine war. Between Trump’s warm welcome to his Russian counterpart and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s notable absence from the talks, it is unclear just how much progress will be made toward securing a peace deal.

Trump and his lineup of top U.S. officials hosted Putin and his own senior delegation at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Upon landing in Anchorage, Trump gave Putin a first-class greeting: ordering a military flyover, applauding Putin as he approached, and even sharing the presidential limousine (known as the “Beast”) to ride through the U.S. military base. This was starkly different treatment from the open hostility that Trump expressed toward Zelensky during their White House summit in February.

Ahead of the meeting, the White House also announced an eleventh-hour change of plans. Trump and Putin were initially supposed to speak one-on-one without additional advisors present beyond their respective translators. But ahead of their arrival, the Trump administration notified reporters that the meeting format had been changed to a three-on-three, with Trump being joined by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin being accompanied by Lavrov and Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov. No explanation for the format change was given.

This is the first in-person Trump-Putin summit since the former began his second term in January, and it is the first time in a decade that the Russian leader has stepped onto U.S. soil. At the time of writing, the two world leaders—along with their last-minute additions—had entered hour three of talks.

Read more in today’s World Brief: Trump Rolls Out the Red Carpet for Putin in Alaska.

This post is part of FP’s ongoing coverage of the Trump administration. Follow along here.

Alexandra Sharp is the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy. Bluesky: @alexandrassharp.bsky.social X: @AlexandraSSharp