The U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska is happening where East meets West — quite literally — in a place familiar to both countries as a Cold War front line of missile defense, radar outposts and intelligence gathering.
Whether it can lead to a deal to produce peace in Ukraine more than 3 1/2 years after Moscow’s invasion remains to be seen.
Here’s what to know about the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, the first summit in four years:
When and where is it taking place?
The summit takes place Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson outside Anchorage between Putin and Trump as well as a meeting of the delegations, said Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser.
It’s Putin’s first trip to the U.S. since 2015 for the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Because the U.S. isn’t a member of the International Criminal Court, which in 2023 issued a warrant for Putin on war crimes accusations, it’s under no obligation to arrest him.
Is Zelenskyy going?
Both countries confirmed a meeting between only Putin and Trump, despite initial suggestions that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy might take part. The Kremlin has long pushed back against Putin meeting Zelenskyy -– at least until a peace deal is reached by both sides and is ready to be signed.
Putin said last week he wasn’t against meeting Zelenskyy “but certain conditions need to be created” and were “still a long way off.” That raised fears about excluding Ukraine from negotiations. Kyiv and its European allies stressed that peace cannot be achieved without Kyiv’s involvement.
Zelenskyy was in Berlin for virtual meetings Wednesday with Trump and European leaders to try to ensure Ukraine and its allies are heard before the summit.
The Ukrainian president told the group Putin “is bluffing” about his military might and the effectiveness of sanctions, and “is trying to apply pressure … on all sectors of the Ukrainian front” to try to show that Russia is “capable of occupying all of Ukraine.” In reality, sanctions are “hitting Russia’s war economy hard,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy also met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on Thursday.
What’s Alaska’s role in Russian history?
It will be the first visit by a Russian leader to Alaska, even though it was part of the czarist empire until 1867, the state news agency Tass said.
Alaska was colonized by Russia starting from the 18th century until Czar Alexander II sold it to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million. When it was found to contain vast resources, it was seen by Russians as a naïve deal that generated remorse.
After the USSR’s collapse, Alaska was a subject of nostalgia and jokes for Russians. One popular song in the 1990s went: “Don’t play the fool, America … give back our dear Alaska land.”
Sam Greene of King’s College London said on X the symbolism of Alaska as the site of a summit about Ukraine was “horrendous — as though designed to demonstrate that borders can change, land can be bought and sold.”
What’s the agenda?
Trump has appeared increasingly exasperated with Putin over Russia’s refusal to halt the bombardment of Ukraine. Kyiv has agreed to a ceasefire, insisting on a truce as a first step toward peace.
Moscow presented ceasefire conditions that are nonstarters for Zelenskyy, such as withdrawing troops from the four regions Russia illegally annexed in 2022, halting mobilization efforts, or freezing Western arms deliveries. For a broader peace, Putin demands Kyiv cede the annexed regions, even though Russia doesn’t fully control them, and Crimea, renounce a bid to join NATO, limit the size of its armed forces and recognize Russian as an official language along with Ukrainian.
